Surviving for Something
by You-Know-Why97
Summary: The is Daryl/OC. Cute, fluffy and smutty. Meet Steph, an Australian tourist stuck in America during a zombie apocalypse. She watched her sister die and is half dead herself when Andrea, Amy and Dale find her. They take her back to the camp outside Atlanta, where her real journaey begins. Steph is determined to live a good life while she can, to do that she needs Daryl.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**A/N **So I haven't posted anything in a very long time. This chapter is really short, it's more of a test to see if anyone likes my character (Steph) and theme. It does get better, I promise. In my story, Daryl is in his mid-twenties.

Disclaimer: I own none of the Walking Dead characters or the plot. Steph is mine though.

_Steph_

I walked. Just like _them. _In my head I watched Jess die, over and over again. The only person I knew I could rely on, probably the last person I would ever talk to, and I let her die. No, not just die. I let my _sister _get eaten alive by undead cannibals. I thought bitterly as I continued to stumble along the side of the highway. I was on my way to Atlanta, because I knew it had been over-run, just like the other cities. Maybe I would get lucky and die quickly.

The trip around the US had been Jess' idea, a graduation present. I'm Australian, a tourist from the land down under. Now I'm stuck in this place, not knowing if this highway would lead me to Atlanta because Jess was the navigator. I just drove. We had been travelling for just over two weeks when the radio said that a world-wide virus was claiming lives and that we should travel to the nearest city. Great advice guys. The road ahead of me was bland, sun bleached bitumen was sizzling in the summer heat and rotting bodies filled the air with a foul stench. Not for the first time, I wished I had a gun, to end it all quickly. Only a mili-second of pain before eternal peace. My daggers weren't quick enough; I would just sit there and bleed out until I died.

My thoughts had distracted me long enough that I didn't notice the RV meandering towards me on the highway. I could see an older man with a Santa beard driving. They were close now. I guess by the way I stumbled along they thought I was one of the dead. Mustering up my strength I began to wave my arms in an attempt to get their attention. I would have yelled, but my mouth was so dry that all I managed was a strangled gasp. The RV began to slow before pulling to a stop ten metres in front of me. Finally another face! I living, non cannibal face. Hell, I would go as far to say it was friendly.

Drained from my exertions from waving I fell to my knees, if I had enough water in my body, I would have wept. A blond woman, maybe a few years older than my sisters 22 years jumped out of the RV's doors and ran towards me.

"Are you bit?" She asked. All I could do was shake my head to say no. Relieved she crouched beside me and brought the water to my parched lips. The older man I saw driving joined the blonde woman and helped me to my feet, nudging me in the direction of the RV.

"I'm Dale, this is Andrea and her younger sister Amy is in the RV. Can you tell us your name?" Dale asked in a soft voice. When I didn't respond he said to Andrea, "Get her some more water." She brought the bottle of water to my lips and I drank hungrily, water dripped down my chin and wetting my top. It felt heavenly on my sunburnt skin.

"My name… Steph," I coughed to them before drinking from the bottle again. My throat felt like sandpaper and my lips stung. In the shade of the van, another blond girl, who looked very close to my age, stood up from her seat at the table.

"Oh my god! Is she okay? Does she need anything? What can I do to help?" She fretted, her gaze going from Dale to Andrea and back to me.

"Her name is Steph. She is dehydrated and in need of a cold shower, water and some sleep," Andrea said to her sister before leading me to a small door behind the table. Opening the door I saw a showerhead. Dale had mysteriously disappeared, but I soon realised why. Andrea began to gently pull my clothes off. When I was naked she asked, "Are you ok to shower by yourself? Do you need help?"

"…not… a kid," I said in my croaky voice to her. Surely I could shower by myself. Thankfully Andrea didn't push the matter and let me get into the shower by myself. Once enclosed in the little shower I turned the knob with the blue on it. Cold water cascaded onto me. I watched the grime of weeks of blood, sweat and tears disappear into the drain. Under the water, I could see my skin again. It was pink from the constant exposure to the sun but the cold water soothed and cooled me down.

Getting out of the shower I was greeted by a thread-bare towel and some new clothes. Andrea and Amy were smiling comfortingly at me as they dressed me again and handed me a water bottle before nudging me in the direction of a small bed. I hadn't realised how tired I was until I lay down on the soft bed, nursing my bottle of water.

~0~

_Daryl_

Skinning squirrels. You would think that after years of doing it I would be more immune to the task. Nope, nothing ever makes skinning squirrels better. Not years of doing it, not company and apparently not a zombie apocalypse. Sitting in this camp, with children playing in the sunshine and all that happiness bullshit did not make skinning and gutting dead animals any easier to do. Merle, my older brother, and I had gotten stuck with this group at the start of the apocalypse.

We decided to come camping here because of the good hunting. We knew that there would be other people here purely because it was summer, but we did not know that the world would go to shit and we would be stuck with the other campers. Merle and I knew we were the outsiders; they only kept us around because I can hunt. Merle can't hunt for shit, he bounds around the woods scaring away all the game.

The rumbling of the RV distracted me from continuing my job of skinning. It bounced along the dirt road leading to the camp. From where I was sitting I could see Andrea jump out of the RV door before it even stopped, she ran into the camp and grabbed Carol, Jacqui and Lori, leading them back to the RV where all three woman disappeared inside. By now a crowd had gathered as Dale explained what was going on. I walked up slowly, not really interested, but anything was better than skinning.

"We found her on the side of the highway; she's in pretty poor shape. She's very dehydrated, couldn't even talk when we picked her up. I don't know how long she's been walking; all we really know is that her name is Steph." Dale told the group. So we had a newbie in the group. Another mouth for me to feed. I returned to my job as Dale was bombarded with questions.

Watching from my spot at the boundary of the forest I saw Jacqui running around collecting things that were needed to tend to the girl. At one point I heard a scream from the RV. I left then to look for Merle, he had been gone awhile and would want to know about the newbie. I checked the truck first. Merle was always fixing the truck, but when I saw he wasn't at the hood, I checked his tent. It was empty. He must have gone into the woods to practice hunting or something.

When I returned to my tent, I saw Merle harassing Amy while she cooked some food by the fire. Merle just doesn't get a hint, or a warning, or a threat when it comes to ladies. Amy was leaning away as Merle stuck his face very close to hers. He had that grin on his face that he always had when he was trying to 'seduce' someone.

"Oi Merle, you wanna come huntin' with me?" I asked to distract him from Amy. She quickly scurried back to the RV when she saw he was distracted. I was expecting Merle to be upset with me for ruining his chances with Amy. Instead he gave the finger to her retreating figure and muttered, "Stupid slut," Before turning to me and saying, "Whatever, you need all the help you can get."

I laughed at this. Whenever Merle comes hunting with me, I'm lucky to bag one kill. Grabbing my crossbow I waited for Merle to join me at the forest line, he showed up five minutes later grinning like a pig.

"There's another chick in the group, Dale picked 'er up on his way back from scoutin', Carol an' all them 'ave 'er locked up in the RV. Finally somethin' other than that stupid slut and those old ladies." He said this like he had a chance with her. I didn't reply, just cocked my head in the direction of the woods before walking into the shade of the trees.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**A/N **So this one is a little longer. I hope you can see the relationship between Steph and Daryl. It will happen eventually.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Steph and her story.

_Steph_

It had been a week since Andrea, Dale and Amy picked me up. Carol was with me nearly every day, on my 'severe' sunburn and making sure I wouldn't die or something. I wasn't allowed to go outside yet. I didn't mind it was hot out there and I could hear people I didn't know asking if I was okay. I never was any good with crowds and new people. Slowly I started to notice more and more things about where I was. From the bed I could see the tops of the green trees of the camp, there was a fire outside, where everyone would sit at night and talk. I listened in when I wasn't asleep. The adults told stories to the kids and they all discussed when to do supply runs and who was on washing duty the next day.

It felt good for there to be some sort of normal life, I wasn't a part of it yet, but just to know that it was still possible encouraged me to get better. Andrea and Amy reminded me so much of Jess and I that it was difficult to be around them at the same time. My heart ached for my sister, I wanted her with me. She would have loved to be a part of this camp. With children running around and things to do, she would have loved to teach them new things. Just thinking about her reminded me of the rest of my most likely dead family. I couldn't help but be glad they were probably gone by now, they wouldn't have to fight the hoards of the undead and scavenge for food and water every day.

Carol and Andrea came into the RV the next morning, declaring that I was well enough to go outside. Excited, I quickly rose from the bed and put on some shoes that Amy gave to me. They were black converse, not very practical, but better than nothing. With the help of Carol, Lori and Jacqui, Amy and Andrea had gathered some clothes for me. A pair of ratty jean, combat pants with a million pockets, a few singlets and a thread-bare flannelette. Carol handed me a tube of sunscreen and a water bottle before turning and leaving the RV.

I was both excited and nervous to meet the group. Andrea had assured me over and over that they would like me, and that I would not be kicked out of the group. Andrea took my hand after I had finished applying the sunscreen and led me outside for the first time in a week. I expected the sun to hurt my skin as I stepped out from the shade of the RV, but I only felt a comforting warmth as Andrea walked me around the camp and introduced me to everyone.

Carl and Sophia were the most excited to meet me; they ran up and introduced themselves as the followed Andrea and I around the camp. As Andrea led me to the fire pit to take a seat on the logs, Carl said, "Andrea, you should take Steph to the lake," and then looking at me he continued, "It's _so _pretty down there, you can go for a swim or fish, Mum just washes clothes down there, but I've gone swimming and it's awesome!"

"That sounds awesome! Can you show me the way there so Andrea can have a break from looking after me?" I asked Carl and Sophie. They ran off down a trail before Andrea could voice her objections. I followed them more slowly, determined to enjoy the forest around me when a branch snapped off the side of the trail. I automatically reached for my knives that were usually strapped to my belt but of course they weren't there. Andrea and Amy had taken my clothes.

Before I could think about running, I tall man in his mid twenties emerged from the shadows of the forest. There were three dead squirrels hanging from his shoulder and he carried a crossbow in his hand. By now, Sophia and Carl had realised I had fallen behind and came running back around a corner. When they saw the man, they slowed to a walk and looked downwards, like they were afraid of him.

"So you're the new chick?" He asked in a deep southern drawl. His question didn't really need a reply but I answered anyway.

"Um, yeah. I'm Steph," I told him. For a moment I saw his brow crease in response to my accent, nearly everyone at the camp was shocked by my accent. I thought he would offer his name, when he didn't I pushed further, "Do you have a name, or should I just call you Squirrel man?" He seemed shocked by my interest, but replied anyway.

"I'm Daryl, Merle should be along any second, he's takin' a piss," Daryl said crudely. I think he was trying to shock me or something, but it didn't work, back home, nearly everyone I know talked like that.

"Okay, well I'm sure I'll meet him sometime later, we're going down to the lake," I said as I walked away, waving my hand over my shoulder.

~0~

_Daryl_

She walked away from me, following the two kids and listening as they informed her about him. Great, soon there would be another person to look at him like he was scum. Merle smashing through the undergrowth pulled me out of my reverie about the new girl. Why did he care if she looked at him like scum? Everyone else did.

"That the new girl?" Merle asked, pointing at Steph as she disappeared behind some trees. I turned to him, giving him a look that said 'What do you think?' Merle just shrugged and walked up the hill and back to camp. I followed behind, still thinking about the new girl and how she didn't flinch at his crude language. All the other women in this camp were shocked by his 'appalling' language. They would cover the kid's ears and scurry away from the rude redneck.

While out hunting, I lost another arrow, so I sat down in my usual spot and began to fashion one out of some wood Merle and I found. Shane walked up to us then, he completely ignored me and instead focused his cop-stare on Merle, who didn't even look up to acknowledge him.

"Merle, we need you to go with Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog and Jacqui on a supply run," Shane didn't even bother pretending Merle had a choice in the matter, "You leave tomorrow morning at dawn." This got Merle's attention, he was fine with occasionally helping Daryl hunt, but putting his neck on the line for a bunch of assholes that didn't care if he lived or died was another thing completely.

Shane saw that Merle was about to argue and walked away. If Shane said Merle was going, he had no choice in the matter. Merle got up and stormed after Shane, leaving Daryl alone with his piece of wood. He was thinking about Steph again, how she was so different from everyone else. He remembered the glint in her eyes as she goaded him to tell her his name, the girl had balls. So far, everyone at camp was afraid of him. If they pissed him off, they wouldn't eat.

He worked for another 30 minutes or so, finishing one arrow, before he got up to take a leak. Steph was walking up the path to the lake, smiling at something Sophia was saying. Hearing someone approaching Steph looked up at him, and for a second it was like she was smiling at him. It was stupid, but he felt his heart give a little thump. Her grin faded a little but stayed there none the less as he passed her.

He returned to the camp to find Merle had given up on Shane and had instead decided to hit on Steph. Daryl instantly got annoyed at his brothers useless attempts at getting laid. Steph was sitting there sharpening a pair of small knives; they were shiny and well cared for daggers. When Merle realised that Steph was ignoring his advances, he grabbed her hand to stop her from sharpening the knives.

Super quick, Steph was standing up, one knife pressed to his through, the other poised to stab his crotch. Daryl quickened his pace to stop Steph from stabbing his brother when he heard her say, "Touch me again and you lose either your life or your dick. Which do you care about more?" Just as quickly she pulled away and sat down again. Andrea and Amy snickered and Steph just smiled as Merle stomped off.

~0~

_Steph_

Too late after my outburst I realised that Daryl was watching, I was expecting some sort of lecture about pissing off his volatile brother, but Daryl just hid his small smile under his hand and went after his brother. I watched the younger Dixon brother leave. Most of the people in the camp seemed to be terrified of him and his brother.

I tuned back into the conversation between Andrea and Amy, "Seriously, why does he think he can have whatever he wants," Amy complained to her older sister.

"It's just because he is the 'provider' of the group. He doesn't even do most of the hunting," Andrea replied in an equally angry voice. I chose this moment to join the discussion.

"So, Daryl does all the hunting, right?" I asked the sisters. I knew Daryl hunted, I mean, what kind of sick fuck walks around with dead squirrels if he doesn't hunt?

"Yeah he does, but other than that he's a bit of nuisance. Every now and then he gets pissed and we all have to walk on egg shells so he doesn't leave. But other than that he just sits by himself at the edge of camp," Andrea rambled, concentrating on the food she was preparing for the group tonight.

As I continued to think about Daryl, I sharpened my knives, Andrea had given them back when I returned to camp with Carl and Sophia. She didn't want me walking around unarmed if 'Walkers' attacked the camp. I was so glad to have them back after the scare Daryl gave me on the Lake trail. It was obvious though, that everyone in the camp thought this place was safe. The kids were allowed to run around unsupervised and most of the women didn't carry weapons. I knew better though. No place was safe in this new world I was under no illusions that I would live past my mid-twenties maybe thirties. It was this thought that encouraged me to live a good fucking life while I could.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

_Daryl_

I woke up with a start. Merle was knocking on my tent door, "You awake, Princess?" HE asked before popping his head into my tent anyway. "You not gonna say goodbye to ol' Merle! I'm offended, little bro. You might never see me again," He mocked offence. Merle was the most likely to return from this trip, purely because he didn't care enough about anyone but Daryl in this camp to risk his life.

"Shut up, asshole. I'm getting up now," I replied to him. He re-zipped my tent and walked off, leaving me to get dressed. When I was fully clothed I joined the rest of the camp to see Glenn, Jacqui, Andrea, T-Dog and Merle off. Nearly all the camp was there except for the kids who were asleep, Steph and Amy were fussing over Andrea, and making sure she had everything she would need.

He looked away from her quickly, not wanting to be caught staring at the new girl. People will get ideas. Merle soon distracted with complaints about being dragged into this. Soon the sky was lightening and the group moved towards the vehicles. Andrea, Jacqui, Glenn, T-dog and Merle got into the car designated to supply runs. Unlike the rest of the group Merle and Daryl didn't prolong their farewell. A simple "See ya, bro," was all Daryl got and all he cared to have. The rest of the group was tearing up, Andrea had her head out the window and Amy and Steph were yelling "Be careful" and "I love you" as the car drove down the road.

The crowd broke up after the car was out of sight; Daryl assumed he would spend his day hunting and avoiding the rest of the group. Steph soon proved this was not going to happen.

"Daryl, hey! Wait up, would you. Jesus, you walk fast!" She gasped as she caught up to him. He looked down at her. Steph had this hair, sometime you would swear it was blonde, but the next thing you knew she was a brunette. Daryl really did not want to admit how much he had studied her in the twenty-four hours since she had emerged from the RV.

The sun was peaking up over the horizon, and Daryl was once again struck by her eyes. The lightest blue a man ever saw, with little hints of yellow and a lone dot of brown on the left iris. Not realising he had zoned out completely, Daryl listened to what she was saying, "I don't want to be like the other women in this group, none of them know how to use a weapon or hunt, they all rely on the men for protection and you for fresh meat," She seemed to be rambling, so Daryl fixed her with his most impatient look so she would hurry up. "What I'm trying to say, or really ask, is... Daryl, would you please teach me how to use your crossbow and hunt?" Daryl was shocked by her question. First it was purely because the thought of Steph holding a crossbow was unbelievably sexy in his mind; secondly it was that she actually wanted something from him.

Daryl was slow to respond, the thought of spending more time with Steph both appealed and scared him at the same time. She looked maybe 17, and he was 26. If the world hadn't gone to shit, he would be arrested for even touching her. Before his mind completely wrapped around that disturbing though her answered her. "Um, sure. But if you don't do exactly as I say on the hunting trips, deals off." He hoped he sounded stern and not over-joyed at the thought of her company alone in the woods.

"Oh my god! Seriously? When do we start?" Steph was jumping up and down now, that was all Daryl's mind could grasp before Steph wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Who was this girl, once minute she was threatening to cut off Merles dick and the neck she was acting like a ten year old on Christmas.

"We can start today if you want, I have nothing else to do." He told Steph, her face lit up in a childlike grin before she questioned him further.

"How 'bout after lunch, I will meet you at your tent then. What do you want me to bring?" She asked in that excited tone of hers. Daryl was still shocked by her smile, the one he glimpsed when she was talking to the kids or Amy and Andrea was now fully directed at Daryl, and he had to fight the erg to kiss her.

"Well, I'll just teach you the basics of the crossbow today, so you don't go killing anyone. You don't really need to bring anything." He told her. She nodded and waved goodbye to him before heading to her tent. He watched her as she walked, her step was bouncy. But what caught his attention more was how she absently twirled one of her daggers in her hand, her movements where efficient and practised.

Daryl wasn't exaggerating when he said he had nothing to do all day, so when he made his way back to the tent he crafted some more arrows out of the pieces of wood he had been collecting. Even if Steph was efficient with her daggers, Daryl was sure more than one of his arrows would go missing this afternoon.

~0~

For the second time that day, Daryl woke up with a start. This time it was because an unimaginably beautiful girl was leaning over him and shaking his shoulder. Steph was smiling slightly when he opened his eyes. She didn't straighten right away and stayed leaning over him, Daryl noticed her smell. It was like vanilla strawberries, not overpowering, but just enough for you to notice it was there. Daryl wondered how in the middle of an apocalypse she managed to get some pricey perfume.

"Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty." She said with a laugh. It was then that she noticed her position; she looked awkwardly at the space between them before standing upright.

Daryl stood up, put on his boots and grabbed his crossbow. He joined her outside his tent as they began walking to the boundary of the forest and further away from the campsite.

"I really appreciate you doing this for me, Daryl. It means a lot to know I will be able to look after myself if I get separated from the group." Steph said as the entered the woods. The thought of her being separated from the woods made him sick to the stomach but he tried his best to hide it with a nod of acknowledgement.

She continued when she saw he wasn't going to speak, "I can use my daggers, but they're only ever good in close combat. I would rather kill the walkers before they got close enough that I would have to use them." He listened to her in silence, not feeling that anything needed to be said. Daryl tuned back into the sounds of the woods. Usually when he was with people in the woods he got annoyed at the constant crunch of leaves or twigs when they walked, so he was surprised to find Steph nearly completely silent as she moved through the forest.

They quietly walked through the woods, until Daryl was sure they were far enough away from camp that stray bolts wouldn't injure anyone else. He slowed to a spot in a small clearing just large enough for them to stand ten feet from a tree. Steph stood there awkwardly before asking, "So, we gonna start or just stand here looking at a tree?"

He actually laughed at that. Handing her the unloaded crossbow he said, "Be careful, I've had her since I was 15," He told her.

"Sure, Sure," She said with a laugh before bringing the crossbow in front of her and aiming. The sight of her, tiny Steph, holding a crossbow, her singlet had ridden up to show a peek of midriff. She was wearing combat pants that were obviously too big for her. The site was both cute and sexy at the same time.

When he laughed at her she turned to him, the same glint in her eye she had when they had first met. "What?" She asked. He could tell she was trying to sound annoyed, but he could still hear the humour in her voice.

"Nothin'," Daryl said, "You're just doin' that completely wrong," He grinned. This was the first time in God knows when he was able to joke innocently with a pretty girl. His brother had always called him a pussy for wanting anything other than sex with a chick.

"Sorry, sir, can you show me how to do it right?" She said a little too innocently. Her eyes went real big and he saw her bite her lip. The site was nearly enough to break his resolve not to kiss the feisty underage beauty.

Still battling internally with himself, he only managed a week sound in the back of his throat. She turned away and returned the crossbow in front of her, ready for instruction.

"For starters, you have to hold your elbow higher, spread ya feet to shoulder width an' straighten your back," He said in a rush, afraid his voice would crack. She nodded and tried to follow his orders, but her attempt failed and her stance looked worse than before. He moved behind her and suddenly his dream from his morning nap came back in full force. Steph and him going at it in the woods.

Damn, he had to get those thoughts out of his head. Now. Because he currently had his hand on her stomach and was straightening her back so the length of her body pressed nicely against his. If he moves in the wrong way, she would feel his hard-on and God knows what would happen then.

Too late he pulled away from behind Steph to check her stance. He noticed her face was tomato red from his hand-on approach to teaching.

~0~

_Steph_

She still felt his hands on her body like they were burnt into her skin, gently melding her body into place. The way he had pressed her whole body tightly against his, she had felt every muscle in his body move smoothly, she had even felt the hard contents of his jeans' pocket. Steph knew her face was red when he pulled away, the curse of pale skin. You can always tell when I'm blushing.

The crossbow was heavy in her arms, bringing her back to reality, this was a practice session. She was learning to use a weapon in order to better protect herself. Jeez Steph, pull yourself together, girl.

"So, um, is this better?" She asked him. He looked distracted for a second before he nodded. One thing she had learned about Daryl, he didn't talk much. Steph was surprised to find she didn't mind the long silences between them. She was the type of person to automatically relate silence to awkwardness, but with Daryl it was comfortable. She had a feeling that even though he didn't respond a lot of the time, he was always listening, always watching. The constant observer.

"Yeah, just, uh, remember that elbow. Could you hand me the Jinx?" He asked, like he hadn't just something completely ridiculous.

"Sure, but first I need to know what the fuck a jinx is," She said with that same sassiness that controlled most of what she said. Most people tended to avoid her because of her sailors tongue and general crudeness.

"Jinx is the crossbow, she needs a name. Plus it's easier to say Jinx instead of crossbow," He said, I guess his explanation did make sense. Like how musicians named their instruments. Hunters named their crossbows.

"Oh, ok," She said, handing him Jinx. He loaded the crossbow before carefully handing it back to her.

When she had the crossbow safely aimed at the tree, Daryl moved back behind her and helped aim the crossbow so it actually hit the tree. His arms reached around her to readjust her arms and Steph couldn't help but relax slightly into Daryl's strong frame. He didn't seem to notice so she relaxed a little more.

"Straighten ya back," He said gruffly in her ear. His voice had gotten deeper, making something in her belly tingle and come to life. Ignoring the feeling, Steph quickly straightened her spine and concentrated on aiming Jinx at the centre of the tree.

~0~

It took a few hours, but Steph finally managed to hit the tree without any of Daryl's assistance. She did her little jumpy-happy dance and hugged Daryl in a moment of unrestrained joy. Who knew aiming a crossbow was so difficult. Her arms ached and her feet were sore from the constant standing.

On their way back to camp Daryl told her about what he planned for tomorrow, "I'll show you how to cock the crossbow and load it with a bolt, and then we will go through some general hunting techniques, 'kay" He asked.

Steph was excited that he was planning another lesson so soon, "When do you want me?" Steph said before blushing as she realised the double meaning behind her innocent words. He didn't seem to notice.

"In the morning would be great, Merle and the group should be back in the afternoon, I know you want to be there when Andrea gets back." He said, to her it sounded like he was planning to accommodate her wants. She knew that was just her romance-obsessed mind seeing what it wanted to see.

"Sounds great!" She said, a little too enthusiastic for the situation, but she continued anyway, "I'll see you at around 7, to give us plenty of time," Steph said. "But right now I need to help Amy cook dinner; did you want me to make you something?" Realising she sounded a little desperate she added, "My thanks for today."

Daryl shook his head, "Nah, I reckon I'll just go to my tent tonight, I have some jerky in there," He said.

Steph just shrugged, "Night then, see you at 7," She walked towards the fire, leaving Daryl in the fading light of late afternoon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**A/N** Sorry if my hunting lingo isn't correct. What can I say, it's not a priority of mine. I hope you're all like it so far, I've changed my approach to writing so this chapter may be a little different.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or plot.

_Daryl_

Daryl was fooling himself if he thought he was going to get any sleep. Not only was his mind filled with images of Steph in not-so-innocent positions, but a storm had rolled in during the night. It was particularly bad tonight; he could hear the wind whistling through the trees, some of the weaker branches were falling to the ground. Right now, he wished nothing more than to be in the RV, not only would he get some sleep, but he would be in close proximity to Steph. That was never a bad thing.

Some flying debris slammed into his tent, the loud slap of it hitting his tent scaring the shit out of him. Daryl pulled his blanket up to his chin and turned onto his side, thinking about how warm and solid the RV must be. Right now, Steph was probably sleeping soundly, no flying debris attacking her. The wind wouldn't be waking her up, he was kind of glad it was her in the RV and not him. As much as Daryl wished he was there, he would not trade places with Steph. He could handle this weather because he was raised in it. Daryl loathed to think of her cold, scared and alone in this storm. The thought made his stomach twist and his hands clench.

Eventually Daryl must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew the sun was rising and the storm had passed, leaving an eerie quiet over the camp. Someone was already moving about outside, so Daryl rose and got ready for the day. He hated to admit just how exhausted he was, the last thing he wanted to do was go outside and face the day. He would have to find something to occupy his time until 7, when Steph and he would go out into the woods. In the forbidden part of his mind that openly indulged in his growing feelings for Steph, Daryl admitted that being with her was the best part of being in this camp.

Un-zipping his tent, Daryl looked at the damage the storm had done. Other than the leaves and debris, only a few things had been knocked over. A few branched lay around, but they could easily be moved. Hopefully the group didn't want Daryl and Steph to sacrifice their lesson in order to clean this up. Walking into the open air Daryl stretched, the morning was cool and fresh. He slowly made his way to the fire pit and sat on one of the logs, he wondered where the person who was up before was.

Daryl produced some bits of jerky and chewed on them for breakfast, while he could hunt, Daryl could not cook for the life of him. In all his weeks stuck at camp, Daryl had never made his own meal. He either had some crudely cooked meat, jerky or fruit. Steph emerged from the bushes as he ate his second piece, she smiled warmly as she sat down beside him. He could feel her warm skin brush against his as she moved.

"Mornin'," He said, not looking at her. He had seen her attire as she walked towards him from the woods. She must have assumed no one else would be up for awhile because she was still wearing her pyjamas. Indecently short pants with a thin singlet, but what he noticed the most was her lack of bra. Daryl's mouth watered at the tantalizing image.

"Good morning, that was some storm last night, wasn't it?" She said. It seemed as though she was grasping for subjects to talk about with him. "I barely slept at all."

"At least you were in the RV," Daryl replied. He didn't say it bitterly, just in the way Daryl stated things.

"Thank God for that, we got hit with a few big branches and the winds made the RV sway. It was a bit like being on a boat," Steph told him. It was nice to talk about normal things with some. Not supply runs, or the best way to kill walkers or how to ration the food. Just having an average conversation about the weather made Daryl realised that not everything about the old world was gone.

Daryl wasn't expecting her to continue talking to him, most people gave up when they realised he wasn't too good a socializing. "Do you want me to fix you some brekky?" She asked, her accent coming out thick. To him it was the sexiest thing he had heard since the apocalypse began. Maybe even before that. He looked up at her in surprise and their eyes caught, he loved her eyes. They were like the clearest spring you ever saw, big blue pools that he wanted to spend all day swimming in.

Remembering that she had asked a question, Daryl nodded, but for the life of him he could not remember what it was. He gazed at her even after she looked away; there were little bits of blonde hair falling away from her hair band. They danced around in the slight breeze, completely enrapturing him in the sensuous movements. Who knew hair could be sensuous?

She distracted Daryl by handing him a plate with an egg and some squirrel meet on it; he hadn't even noticed she had been cooking. He quickly ate as the sun rose, the rays turning warming his skin and waking him from his Steph-induced daze. She leant back, exposing her face to the morning sun, the movement pushed her breasts forward, Daryl tried really, really hard not to stare. Then, in a flash she was gone, saying she had to get dressed, and Daryl was cold again.

~0~

When 7 rolled around, Daryl was a wreck, despite having already done one lesson with Steph, he had no admitted to himself that the little blonde Australian had dug her way into his heart; Daryl had reverted to his high school years and was now freaking the fuck out because he no longer knew how to act around her. All morning he tried to occupy his mind and body. Helping clean up the camp, cleaning and sharpening his knife, he even tried reading, none of these activities ever lasted more than ten minutes so the 2 hours between sunrise and 7 were torture.

So when Daryl found himself waiting for Steph at the forest boundary he could stop his hands from fiddling with Jinx. His mind was in a whirl, this lesson they were going through the woods so he could teach her how to pick up a trail and follow it. He figured she was good on the keeping quiet and not disturbing the forest thing. When Daryl saw Steph walking towards him from the direction of the fire, he was not expecting her to be packing the weapons.

She had two knives on her belt, two strapped to her thighs and a he assumed another one on her back. "Why all the knives, we're just going into the woods." He told her. She looked like one badass mother fucker with all those daggers. Gone was the cute Steph who jumped in excitement when she finally hit a tree from ten feet away. This was the feisty Steph who threatened to cut off his brothers' dick. Daryl didn't know which Steph he liked more. But when she smiled up at him with that sweet little grin of hers, Daryl knew she could be both at the same time. Almost instantaneously he realised he was a goner; there was no way he could stay away from her.

"Oh yeah I know. Just thought I should be prepared, you know, in case of walkers." She said, nodding. The way she was looking at him, asking him for approval reminded Daryl again of just how young she was. Like illegal to even think about her young. Everything about her exuded youth, the way her hair bounced when she walks, or her wide innocent eyes. But Daryl knew that was just an act, Steph was anything but innocent.

He nodded in the direction of the woods and they were off. "I just thought that today I would show you how to track," He said, trying to distract himself from the dirty thoughts he was having about Steph. She nodded to show she had heard him, she understood that when in the woods you were quiet. You never know what was lurking in the shadows of the trees. Too many times he had agreed to show someone how to hunt and they ended up scaring away all the good game because they were bragging about nailing the manager at the Piggly Wiggly.

Daryls' ears perked up at the sound of something a few feet to his left. Steph heard it too and reached for his hand in fright. He tried not to be pleased with her natural instinct to find security in him. Daryl moved quietly towards the source of the noise, motioning from Steph to stay behind him and be quiet. Looking through the trees Daryl was shocked to see Shane and Lori going at it. He quickly retraced his steps to their trail, looking at Steph to see if she's seen. By the red tinge to her face he guessed that she had.

Daryl knew that Shane had been fucking Lori, he was pretty sure most of the camp knew. Why they continued to try and keep it a secret was beyond him. Some people were like that, he guessed. Daryl most certainly was not. When he was fucking someone he did not hide it. Everyone knew not to touch her, or they would be fucked up. Most of his previous girlfriends and lovers had issues with this, God forbid they were faithful to one man at a time.

So lost in his reverie about before the shit hit the fan, he didn't notice that Steph was giggling slightly and hiding a grin. "What's your problem? ain't you never seen people fucking?" He asked, not really expecting a reply.

"No, actually I haven't," She said. He was again shocked by her. "Not in person," She continued.

"Rhetorical question, darlin'," He told her. He hadn't meant to add the pet name, but she had lowered his defences without him noticing again. Steph still hadn't stopped laughing, so he stopped walking and let her lose herself in fits of laughter. After awhile he joined in too.

When her giggles and his chuckles had subsided they continued their trek until he found a trail. He pounded it out to her and showed her how he's noticed it. They began following the trail through thick-ass under-bush that caught their pant-legs.

They were climbing through a particularly bad section when he heard Steph behind him, "Fuck-" She said before the sound of her hitting the ground with a solid thump. He quickly turning around and made his way to her, she looked fine except for the slight crease in her forehead that indicated she was in pain. "My ankle, it's a little bit fucked up," She said with a sarcastic laugh. He moved down to her feet and looked at her ankles, one of them had a red line on hit from where she caught it on a root.

She tried standing, but as soon as she put weight on the injured ankle her face knotted up in pain. "I'm so sorry Daryl; I should have been watching my feet." She apologised, for the life of him Daryl didn't understand why.

"You're apologising for hurting yourself?" He asked with a laugh, 'Darlin' it's no loss to me, I wasn't expecting to catch anything today anyway," He told her. She looked relieved that she hadn't screwed up anything for him. "How're we gonna get you back?" He asked. He really didn't want to carry her back, but it didn't look like there was any way around it. Just the thought of having her in such close proximity, rubbing against, got him turned on.

"Well, I guess you could piggy-back me. I mean, it's the best thing for long distance, we have at least five kilometres back to camp." She said. He cringed a little inside, but consented. Having her ride on his back was better than having her face so close to his if he was to carry her. He cringed outwardly at his use of the word 'ride'. Thinking about Steph and him and the word 'ride' was not a good idea.

He knelt down beside her and let her climb onto his back, she was much lighter than her was expecting her to be. But unlike other girls who were soft, Steph's body was packed with muscle. When he stood up, Daryl realised he had made a grave mistake. He could feel her pert breasts rubbing on his back; he could swear they were burning him. He fought his urge to groan at the feeling.

"See, now you can still have your crossbow. You can say it, I'm a genius," She said with cockiness lacing her voice. Her words where not what he noticed though, it was the way her warm breath tickled his neck and ear. His neck automatically when to the side to give her better access, he covered it up by pretending to stretch. If he wasn't hard before, he sure was now.

This was going to be a long 5 kilometres.

~0~

_Steph_

Oh! My! God! I was on Daryl's back. My hands where wrapped around his neck, and legs were wrapped around his waist. Thank God for that conveniently placed root. He was so strong; my weight didn't even seem to affect his confident stride. His shoulders were so solid, it was like piggy-backing a statue.

It was now that I realised just how much Daryl meant to me. Sure I'd felt the fiery attraction before, but now, I felt the connection. The little pull in my heart that wanted all of Daryl, I wanted him to want me. I knew he responded to me the way any man would, it was a natural reaction. But I wanted Daryl to want to protect m. It sounded selfish, but is it really that bad to want someone to care enough about you that they protect you. Then so be it, I was a selfish person.

Last night, all I could think about was how much I wanted Daryl with me, his strong frame wrapped around my smaller one. I hated to admit just how scared I was in that storm, I always had been. When I was little I would hide under my bed until the storm had passed. You couldn't really do that in the RV. I wasn't joking when I told Daryl I didn't get any sleep.

The feeling of Daryl's body moving against mine brought me back from my useless thoughts. There really was nothing I could do, other than forcing myself on him, and even then I couldn't force him to feel anything towards me. Instead I just focus on the forest as we walked by; trying to use the techniques Daryl had showed me to spot animal trails. I think I saw a few, but without Daryl's assistance I couldn't tell for sure.

We passed by the clearing where Daryl taught me to use his crossbow, she knew what that hard object in his pocket was, and decided to test her theory on his natural reaction to her. I rested my head on his shoulder and let my breath hit Daryl neck; I felt a small shiver run through him. Feeling more confident now I moved my hands from his shoulders and now to his chest. "Daryl, did you lift or something before the virus struck?" I asked as innocently as I could. It wasn't my best move, but I was distracted by the feel of his chest beneath my hands. He was incredibly warm.

"Uh," he coughed, "No, I spent a lot of time outside," He said in a deep gravelly voice. She moved her hands back to his shoulders and closed her eyes. I couldn't fall asleep, but I could rest my eyes and relax in Daryl's presence. I had a feeling he would keep me safe. Daryl must have sensed her relaxation because he steadied his gate to keep from jostling her.

~0~

I opened my eyes when Daryl coughed, I could see the camp through the trees, and no one had seen us yet. When Daryl knew I was awake he lowered me to the ground, wrapping one arm around my waist to help me walk. We awkwardly made our way out of the cover of the trees, Carol wad the first to notice us. She ran over and wrapped her arm around me on the other side of Daryl.

They helped me walk to Daryl's tent; it was the closest to the tree cover. He set me down on the chair outside his tent and stood awkwardly to the side as Carol inspected the injured ankle. She looked up at me a few minutes later and said, "It's just a minor sprain, we'll wrap it up, but I'm not a doctor and I don't know how long it will take to heal," She said. It was kind of hard not to believe she was a doctor or at least a nurse. I was under the impression that she had been a nurse before the end of the world.

She went to get some bandages, leaving Daryl and I outside his tent, neither of us knew what to say or do. Daryl coughed and scratched the back of his neck, giving me a killer view of his defined arm muscles. Daryl wasn't the type of guy who was buff from working out in a gym; his body was lean and muscular from years of hard work. There was nothing fake about Daryl, what you saw was what you got.

Thankfully Carol returned with the bandages and wrapped my ankle; it hurt a little as she did it. I was shocked when she finished to realise I had subconsciously grabbed Daryl's hand. Carol was shocked as well, she looked at our joined hands, and I quickly untangled our fingers and placed my hand on my lap. "Thank you so much Carol. It seems like you're always patching me up," I tried to joke. It came out really awkward. She said it was okay before retreating to find Sophia or Ed.

I look at Daryl then and decided not to mention the hand holding. "Thank you so much Daryl, for the lesson and carrying me back. I would have been screwed if you weren't there," I said before attempting to stand. As soon as I put weight on my ankle it my leg gave out and I stumbled. Daryl could me before I landed flat on my face.

"S'okay just go easy on that ankle so we go back to our lessons," He blushed when he realised what he'd said. To her it meant the world. He wanted to continue their lessons as soon as possible! She grinned up at him as he wrapped his arm around her waist again, helping her walk. "So, ah, where do you want to go?" He asked.

"Um, the RV I suppose, I can't really get anywhere without help so I'll just stay there today." She said, even to her it sounded pathetic.

"I can help you if ya want, I mean, I've got, ah, nothin' else ta do," He said.

"Oh, in that case, I'll just hang around with you. If you're going to help me I may as well help with whatever you have to do," She said, I figured he would be making arrows or sharpening knives or something.

"Well, I don't really got anythin' to do," He said. They stood awkwardly, not knowing where to go. His arm was still wrapped around her; I was suddenly shocked by how intimate their position was.

"Oh, well... what are we going to do?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"I guess we can hang out at my tent, it's a lot less busy than the RV and I can help sharp all those knives ya got," He said. She was shocked by the effort he was putting into spending time with her.

"Seriously? That would be amazing of you! Some of my knives haven't been sharpened since before the end of the world," She said. She knew she sounded too excited, but she didn't care. Daryl wanted to spend time with her.

"Why haven't you sharpened 'em?" He asked, turning her back around and heading back to his tent.

"I didn't have the equipment," She said simply. He placed her back in his chair and went into his tent to get his steel. He came back and sat down on the ground in front of her.

I unsheathed all my knives and lay the on the ground between un. He was shocked when I unsheathed the katana strapped to my back. How hadn't he noticed that?

"I just figured it was another knife, not a whole bloody sword," He said, eyeing the shiny blade like it was made of diamonds. We both picked up a knife each and began sharpening in a comfortable silence.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**A/N **I'm super sorry about the wait, what can I say? Shit happens. Something in this may not be exactly like the plot of the show, I forgot about how some things happened and I don't have the series . It is pretty close, but there are some inaccuracies. There may be a few spelling and grammar mistakes, ignore them. Thank you to those who review, it's nice to know you like the story. Enjoy.

_Daryl_

When the supply run group didn't return that afternoon, Daryl got a little worried, but it wasn't unusual for people to run late, especially now that walkers were determined to eat you. They were particularly good at screwing up people's plans. Steph, Amy and he had waited at the entrance to the camp until the sun when down, to pass the time, Steph and Amy had played twenty questions. That game where you have to answer a question with a question, Daryl was surprised when he found himself laughing along with Amy and Steph, even though he didn't join in. Amy and Steph seemed to be really close; he guessed they were united by their shared worry for Andrea. The older lady acted like a sister to Steph, she looked after her as she did Amy and making sure she was included in the group. When the group hadn't returned by sun set, Steph didn't show any signs of worry other than the small crease in her forehead, but Amy was hysterical. She wept and wailed, Steph didn't really have a choice but to withhold tears of her own, one of them had to stay strong. Daryl wasn't the type to comfort distraught females, so he had looked for Dale to comfort them instead.

Daryl had retreated to his tent when he was sure Steph was okay, he was so ashamed that he had had to find Dale. He should have just done it himself, screw the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Merle telling him he was a pussy and throwing about more useless insults. He had wanted to take Steph into his arms so badly when he saw that her eyes shone with unshed tears. He saw such an unbearable sadness and her blue orbs that he felt like he had been physically hit in the gut. She always seemed so happy and innocent, but something about the look in her eyes told him that she had experienced something truly dreadful before joining their group. Daryl was so confused, if this thing she had experience had been so dreadful, why was she able to continue life as normal? She seemed fine, she joked, she laughed, she had fights with Shane. Not once had he seen or heard her cry, except when she was first brought in, when Daryl had her Steph scream in the RV.

Daryl decided to stop thinking about the confusion that often surrounded Steph; she was not a one-faceted person. Sometimes you could see right through a person, see exactly who they were, with Steph, you only ever saw one side at a time, and without warning she could switch and you would be dealing with a person who was nearly completely different. He didn't join dinner that night because he couldn't face seeing Steph with the same sadness on her tear-stained face. He cowered in his tent, eating the last of his jerky and sharpening one of Steph's knives. He had volunteered to sharpen them because she wasn't very good at it. And Daryl would be damned if he let her walk around with blunt knives, since she had injured her foot, Daryl had taken it upon himself to be her 'protector'. He hadn't seen it before, because of her feisty attitude, but she was in desperate need of one. When they had been sitting outside his tent, he had seen just how young she was. She had told him about her puppy Squishy, when he had asked why she had named her dog Squishy, she said she liked the word, like it was a normal thing to name an animal after your favourite word.

Steph had told him all about her life in Australia, how her parents were the type of people to cover their house in Christmas lights and threw parties for no other reason but because they could. Just listening to the heart-warming stories of her childhood, Daryl was jealous. He had never had a family like that, one that did activities together and genuinely enjoying each other's company. He had noticed that she never referred to her sister by name, like it was forbidden. She moved onto her friends and school and what she was studying to be, she wanted to be a doctor in the army. She had graduated high school the year before, and this trip had been a gift from her sister. Steph hadn't said anymore on the subject and they had lapsed into another long but comfortable silence. She was the only person in the group who didn't perceive his silence as a threat.

Daryl woke up in the morning with the sun; he emerged from his tent, finding Steph sitting her seat outside his tent. She smiled up at him with her big blue eyes, holding up a plate of baked-beans for breakfast. "To say thank you for yesterday, you didn't have to carry me around all day. So, uh, thank you." She said. When he took the plate, she rose from her seat so he could sit and eat. Her ankle seemed to hurt less, she could move on her own now and she wasn't limping too badly. Daryl guessed she wouldn't be up to another hunting trip for a week or so.

"I'm, uh, goin' on a huntin' trip today," He said, looking down at his food.

"Oh, well good luck," She said. He could tell by the sudden dimming of her eyes that she was disappointed. He hoped because she couldn't come.

"Yeah, the camps' been runnin' low on meat, Shane'll get up me ass if I don't," He told her.

"Yeah, he's been giving me shit about my ankle. He thinks I'm useless now, said I shouldn't have been so selfish to go hunting with you." She grimaced. Daryl's hands held tighter to his fork. That asshole Shane, if it was anyone's fault it was Daryl's, and he wanted nothing more right now than Shane to pick a fight with him so Daryl could improve his face.

"Don't listen to him, he's just upset that a girl wants to learn something other than the daily chores," He said, not even trying to disguise the distaste in his voice.

"A woman," Steph said. Daryl had no idea what she was talking about. When she saw the confusion on his face she said, "A woman wants to learn something other than the daily chores." The air filled with confusion as Daryl understood what she was saying. If only Steph knew how womanly he thought she was.

"Uh, sorry," He said.

"S'okay, I'm just sick of people thinking of me as a little girl, like I'm dependant on other people or something," She said. He could hear the fierceness in her voice.

He looked her in the eyes and said, "I don't think you're dependant, or innocent enough to be a 'little girl'." She blushed and Daryl looked down. It was hard for him to say stuff like that, but for Steph he would do it, ten times over, just to make her smile. They were encompassed by another silence, this one wasn't comfortable though. The air was charged with energy that made the hair on Daryl's arms stand on end.

Slowly the camp started to awake and Steph stood to join in the morning chores. He watched her go; the bounce in her step was missing due to the awkward limping gate she had to adopt due to her ankle. He missed the way her hair bounced when she walked; it made the day seem just a little brighter. She joined Amy and the pair sat at the campfire, they talked as they folded clothes into separate piles. Something about Steph doing something so... _domestic _just seemed wrong. She wasn't made to sit around a campfire doing laundry. She was made to fight, and hunt, and really anything that involved the fire inside her.

Daryl left for his hunting trip then. He couldn't bear watching Steph and not being with her, he was selfish that way. He wanted to lock her up and keep her safe, all to himself. Instead he took one more look at her, smiling at what Amy was saying, before turning and entering the dark forest. Yesterday he had seen some dear tracks, he hadn't told Steph about them because he couldn't risk her scaring it off. Following the trail he let his mind forget about anything other than the subtle signs of the hunt.

~0~

Daryl watched the dear; it was grazing about 20 feet in front of him. Pulling his crossbow in from of him, Daryl aimed and was about to shoot when the meandering form of a walker blundered out from some trees. The dear looked up at the walker before shooting into the woods. Daryl managed to get one shot in it disappeared completely. The walker had vanished as well, probably chasing the dear. Daryl took chase as well, he could still hear the dear and walker, and both were crashing and falling about. His shot must have injured the dear, slowing it down. Running through the woods, following the trail of the dear, Daryl was noted that he was being led back in the direction of the camp. He caught a glimpse of the dear, shooting it again in the rump. The dear fell and Daryl sprinted to get to it before the walker. But he was too late.

The walker had already killed the dear by the time Daryl got there, his rotting face devouring the dears' neck. He must have been led closer to camp than he realised because Shane, Dale and a man Daryl didn't know. Steph, Lori, Carol and Andrea were behind the men, looking on with interest. Dale had already decapitated the walker, did he seriously not know about the brain thing. Daryl had figured it out in his first 5 kills.

He shot it in the head, letting them know how pissed off he was. He had been trailing this dear all day. The sun would set in an hour or two; he had set out just after sun rise. Walking back to the camp, Daryl was happy to see that Andrea returned, maybe the sadness in Steph's eyes would stay away now. He had emerged from the woods, intent on going back to his tent and then down to the lake to wash up. Of course he had noticed the group was still following him, but he figured they wanted their meat. Maybe the new guy wanted an introduction.

"Daryl," Steph called. He stopped walking. She made her way to through the group to stand in front of him. Her eyes were sympathetic, "Maybe you should sit down."

Daryl had a feeling he knew what was coming. Isn't that the way it happened on the TV shows. 'Hey maybe you should sit down, oh, and your brother is dead.' He went to the chair outside his tent and sat down. Most of the group had disappeared. He figured he would let Steph tell him, unless they saw him die, Daryl seriously doubted Merle was dead. They did not know how tough his brother was.

"Here's the thing, Daryl... um, Merle went a little crazy back in the city. Rick, that new guy, he had to handcuff him," Daryl was relieved when Steph didn't say Merle was dead, "But Rick handcuffed him to the roof of the building. The group, they were attacked by a whole bunch of walkers. They had to leave Merle behind."

Daryl didn't say anything for awhile. He couldn't lose his temper near Steph, he did bad things when he lost his temper and he didn't want Steph to be a victim of his tantrums. Daryl nodded before standing up. Rick wasn't far away, just a few metres from his tent. Daryl walked to him quickly. Steph was smart and hadn't followed him; she stayed by his tent and watched as he fought Rick and Shane. He was so angry; those bastards had chained his brother on a roof for the walkers to eat. He got that his brother was fucked up, but that didn't mean you just abandoned them to the walkers when they got to be a nuisance.

Shane had him restrained when Steph walked up between him and Rick. He was so furious he couldn't listen to whatever rick was saying. Steph came close to him, her hands on either side of his face. "Daryl, look at me. I can explain everything to you, but you need to calm down. The group agrees that we should go back for him. But they're not gonna let you go when you're this pissed off. Okay?" He managed to comprehend what she was saying. Her blue eyes were pleading his to calm down. When he didn't seem to calm down she said, "Look, I know what you're going through okay. Do you remember those stories I told you about my sister. Her name was Jess," Her eyes filled with tears, and Daryl found that his concern for her was over riding his anger, "She came with me to America, before I joined this group, she and I travelled together. She died when we were attacked by a hoard." She was crying softly now, but he could still see the determination in her eyes, Daryl need to calm down.

When Shane felt Daryl's' muscles relax he let Daryl go, Steph took his hand and led him into the woods. When they were a fair distance away from the camp Steph began to explain how Merle had been left behind. T-Dog had gone to get him and 'accidentally' dropped the key to the handcuffs into a drain. He had chained the door to the roof so the walkers couldn't get to Merle. There was a very good chance Merle was alive.

"Tell me about your sister," Daryl said. He wanted to know about it, and he had a feeling Steph needed to talk about her.

"We were driving to Atlanta, because we heard it had a refuge or something, we were running out of fuel so Jess had me pull into a service station. The place was boarded up so we thought there wouldn't be any walkers inside, Jess was filling up the car when I unboarded the door and went inside. We didn't have any weapons on us because we didn't think we would get attacked. When I got inside at least ten walkers were there. I was so lucky not to get bitten. Jess had seen them grab me and ran in with her knife; she got me out but was overrun by walkers. She didn't scream once, not until the very end when she was telling me to run." Steph was crying now. Not the dramatic cry that you got when you just found out about a death, but the trickling tears of someone who had cried many times.

He was shocked by the story; this is the sadness he had glimpsed when Andrea hadn't returned. Steph had watched the last of her family get eaten alive. She couldn't have even been able to stop her from turning. He wondered how Steph managed to act normally around the group. No one knew about this, except for maybe Andrea and Amy.

"So, I understand a little bit of what you are going through, I don't know if any of my family is alive in Australia, but I know my sister is dead. There's nothing I can do about it. But you can save Merle; he could still be alive up there. You need to stay calm though, because Rick and Shane aren't going to take you if they think you're going to snap any second." He understood what she was saying, but he was still so angry. They had chained Merle up like he was an animal.

"Okay, but I'll say calm, but I'm still pissed. They chained my brother up like an animal." He said. He wasn't expecting her to reply.

"Maybe he was acting like an animal." He was expecting himself to be pissed by the statement, but he couldn't help but see the truth in what she said. Out of everyone at the camp, Merle was most likely to act like an animal. I didn't make what they did right, but it did justify it. As much as the group would like to believe, Daryl was not an unreasonable person, he just had a bitch of a temper.

"In that case, I better go meet Rick properly and organise a rescue team." He said, standing up and making his way back to camp. Steph was walking beside him, Daryl had to suppress his massive shit-eating grin when Steph grabbed his hand and gave it a supportive squeeze.

"Maybe I should come with you guys," She said. His heart nearly stopped at the thought of his Steph, in a city filled with walkers. It restarted when he thought of Steph as his. It felt right.

"No, I don't want you there." He said. "I could lose my temper, and I don't want you to be around when that happens."

"Do you seriously think you could beat me in a fight?" She asked. He hadn't expected that. It was obvious he was physically stronger than her, and she didn't seem to have any fighting experience.

"Yes, I do," He said, a little cockily. He was surprised when he started feeling happy again. But there was nothing to be upset about. Merle was still alive.

Steph laughed, "My father had a lot of enemies, he made sure I could protect myself. Plus, you wouldn't hit me." She said. Daryl knew she spoke the truth, but he was surprised the she thought so highly of him. Daryl was used to people automatically assuming he was the type of scum the beat woman. After all, his father was why wouldn't he?

Quicker than a blink, Steph had knocked his feet out from under him and had pinned his hands above his head, pinning him on the ground. She was straddling his waist because he was so much taller than her. Steph's' breasts hovered just under his chin. The material of her singlet tickling his neck, he copped an eyeful of the nicest cleavage he had ever seen. Steph was smiling down at him, loving his reaction to her. "See, you have no chance against me. I fight dirty." She said, wiggling her hips.

He was surprised by her bold actions, usually she was so innocent. This was again, a new side to Steph he hadn't seen before. He liked it. A lot.

"Now that that's settled, let's get back to camp, we have a rescue mission to organise." She said, getting off him and standing up.

"Sorry darlin' you still ain't going." He said. Usually his tone would stop all arguments in their tracks. She stopped walking and stood in front of him.

"I'm going Daryl; you really have no reason not to let me." She replied.

"I don't want you to go 'cause I need to concentrate; if you're there I'll be too distracted protectin' you." He blushed when he said this. It was still really hard admitting things like that.

"I do not need protecting. You said you thought I was independent, treat me like it. I'm a better fighter than you give me credit for." She was angry now; the fire in her eyes roared and made her ten times hotter in his opinion.

"I'm not saying you can't defend yourself, but that won't stop me from worryin'," He really didn't want to get in an argument about this; she was not going into the city. Luckily she seemed to understand what he meant. She couldn't go because he would be distracted by his worry for her.

"Just this once, Daryl Dixon," the anger in her voice was gone, but she had a threat in her eyes. "If you ever stop me from doing something because it will 'worry' you, I will personally make sure you never get a good night's sleep." She blushed at how that sounded, "I mean, not like _that," _she clarified, and then realised how mean that sounded and tried to recover,"I mean, Not that I don't want you like that," Daryl and Steph both blushed at that. "I think we should be getting back to camp now." She said, her voice unusually high.

Daryl coughed to cover his laugh, "Yeah, good idea." They walked back to the camp, both furiously red in the face. Steph put her head down to cover her blush and limped over to Amy and Andrea. Daryl made his way to were Rick and Shane sat, discussing something.

~0~

_Steph_

Amy and Andrea were completely oblivious to Steph's bright blush and unusual silence, she sat with them and folded clothes until sun set. Rick and Shane told the group at dinner their plans to go back to the city. T-Dog and Glenn volunteered to go and the group announced they would be leaving at 10 tomorrow morning. The decided to leave it till later because Shane and Rick had some 'pressing' matters to attend to. Rick just wanted more time with Lori and Carl before he left again. It was understandable but damn annoying. The walkers could break through the door to the roof and kill Merle at any moment, the longer they left it the smaller their chances of finding Merle alive.

Steph didn't really care if Merle lived or not, it was Daryl she worried about. He wasn't a bad person; he just had a terrible temper, just like her. She knew what it was like to lose control of yourself and do truly stupid things. She wondered how Daryl would react to finding Merle dead or gone. She was scared he would do something terrible to Rick, Shane and T-Dog if Merle was dead. He might not even come back. Steph's belly clenched at the thought of never seeing Daryl again. In the last few days, Daryl had become a very important part of her life.

They shared something she couldn't explain. This afternoon she had flirted with him, and the light camaraderie made her feel better about Jess. Bringing up her sister had broken her heart, but she did it for Daryl. He wouldn't have calmed down if she hadn't. It did make her feel better to share with someone exactly what had happened. How Jess had died to keep her safe. Andrea knew she had lost a sister, but she didn't know Steph had waited in the car until her sisters screams had stopped. When the walkers had picked her clean, Steph had returned to the servo and stabbed her sister in the head. Steph couldn't bear the thought of Jess walking around as one of them. To become the thing that had killed her.

The remains of her sister haunted her every night, in her dreams they would rise and chase her. Blaming her for her death, Steph would always wake up just before she died or was forced to kill Jess. It was why she was always up so early in the morning. Steph couldn't stand staying in that crowded RV; she woke up at about 4 in the morning and would practise her fighting until Daryl woke up. She had asked for another tent on the supply run list, they had brought it back, but in the drama that was yesterday, Steph hadn't had a chance to set it up. She planned to take the vacant spot next to Daryl's tent.

She went into the RV for the night; Amy was sitting on Steph's bed, waiting for her to come in for the night. "What wrong?" She asked, "And don't you dare spin the same bullshit you gave to Andrea, I know you're not ok." She said Steph laughed at Amy's no nonsense approach.

"I told Daryl about my sister, how she died." Steph told Amy, she had assumed Andrea would have told Amy. When Amy looked shocked Steph told her the story of her sister. She cried a little, but not nearly as much as she had with Daryl. Somehow, she was at peace with Jess's death, thinking about her sister no longer made her feel ashamed or guilty. It made her feel happy that her sister wasn't in this horrible world anymore. Of course Steph missed her, which was a no brainer. She wished Jess could have met Daryl and the people in this place.

Amy sensed that there was nothing she could say to make Steph feel better about the situations. It was something she had to come to terms with on her own. Instead Amy hugged Steph as she cried and tucked her into bed, wiping the tears from under Steph's eyes as she did. Steph fell asleep almost instantly, exhausted from the emotional toll of the day. For the first time in weeks, Steph didn't dream about Jess dying, she dreamed about Daryl. He was kissing the top of her head and saying goodbye.

~0~

Steph woke with tears in her eyes from the beautiful memory of the dream she had had, the sun was already up, but not by much. The RV was hot and Steph assumed it was going to be a sweltering day, but nothing like the hot days in Australia. Getting up, Steph quickly changed into a singlet and short denim pants, they were well worn but in good condition. Walking out into the hot sun Steph made the decision to go for a swim while she washed clothes. It would cool her down and distract her from her worry about Daryl going into the city.

The camp was buzzing with activity, people were running around preparing for the trip into the city, not many people were pleased by the decision to rescue Merle. Steph stayed out of that debate, it didn't really matter anyway. Daryl was going whether she like it or not and he had made it perfectly clear she was not allowed to go.

"Steph," someone called from her right, Glenn was walking towards her with his hand behind his back. When he reached her he pulled he hand from behind his back, Glenn held a large rectangle box. Hopefully it was what she thought it was.

"Um, I saw you put this on the list, and I noticed you hadn't collected it yet." He was so nervous talking to her; Steph had to suppress a smile. She looked at the box more carefully; it was the skateboard she had asked for. Amy and Andrea had laughed assuming this was some sort of joke. In her opinion, skateboards where the best mode of transport they were easy to carry, faster than running and quiet. Honestly, was she the only one that thought things through nowadays?

In her excitement, Steph hugged Glenn and was surprised to find Daryl looking when she pulled away. He didn't look happy, his arms were crossed and he was grimacing. Steph quickly took the skateboard and ran off to play with her new toy. Or that's what Glenn thought, because Steph was running distinctly in the direction of Daryl. When she got to him she held up the skateboard and smiled a childish grin. "Look what Glenn gave me! I asked for it but I didn't think anyone would take it seriously!" She told Daryl to explain her hugging Glenn. He seemed to relax so she said with a little grin, "And I got the tent I asked for as well, now I can finally get out of that cramped RV, some privacy will be great!" He laughed at her; she thought it was because of her enthusiasm, everyone always laughed at her enthusiasm.

"Where were you thinking about setting it up?" Daryl asked her, she thought a little hopefully; maybe he wanted her beside his tent.

"Oh, I was thinking beside your tent, if that's okay?" Steph tried to make her statement seem like a question, but she was going to do it anyway. Daryl knew this.

"Do I really have a say in the matter?" He asked with a smile in return.

"Nope," She said, popping the p. "Wanna help me set it up?" She asked. It wasn't one of the 2 by 2 tents everyone else seems to have, it was one of the ones with two rooms and windows and stuff. A bit luxurious for one person, but maybe Amy and Andrea would join her. Daryl looked a little reluctant so she pouted her lip and looked up at him, moving her body a little closer to his. She knew the effect she had on him by now. "Please Daryl," she bit her lip, "I really, really need the help. I could do something in return for you?" Steph put her hand on his abs.

Daryl moved out of her reach, "Okay, I'll help you. But in return..." She hadn't expected him to take her up on that offer, "I want you to do my laundry." He grinned.

Rolling her eyes she shook his outstretched hand, "Deal." She turned to collect the tent from where she had stashed it in the RV. She met Daryl at the space she wanted to set up her tent, right beside his. "The only reason I asked for your help is because I've never had to put one up like this," She handed him the packed tent.

He spent about five seconds reading it before unpacking it and starting to set it up. "My laundry is in my tent," He said with a wave of her hand in the direction of his tent. She went over to it and found the door unzipped and a massive pile of dirty laundry on the threshold.

"Have you washed your clothes at all since the world went to hell?" She asked shocked by the amount of clothing he had sitting there. She decided to leave him to it and get started with Daryl's laundry. "Don't answer that. I'm going to get started on these. I'll be down at the lake if you need me." She told him, kind of hoping he would come and find her. Daryl only nodded to show he had heard her, too absorbed in his task to pay attention.

On her way down to the lake she ran into Andrea who was walking back from the lake carrying a pile of wet but clean clothes. She smiled at Steph and eyed the pile of dirty men's clothing. "Good luck with that honey," Andrea said sympathetically. Steph just laughed and kept walking. In the full sunshine it was a much hotter day than Steph had anticipated. The cool water was Steph's only relief from the heat as she washed Daryl's clothes.

Halfway through the mound that seemed to never end, Steph decided to take a well earned break. Looking around to make sure no one else was around, Steph began to strip. Just taking of her shirt made the heat better, by the time she was naked except for her underwear, Steph was cool again. Still determined for a break though, she waded into the cool water and floated on the surface. She felt ten times better until, "what the fuck are you doin'," Daryl's gruff voice broke her calm. She stood up quickly in the water; it came up to her belly button so she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What does it look like I'm doing? It was hot, so I decided to take a break." Steph told him, "What are you doing here?"

"I finished your tent and we're leavin' soon so I came to say goodbye," Daryl told her. Steph began walking in, touched by his thoughtfulness.

"Uh, you might not want to come in any further than that while I'm here," He told, with a bit of a grin on his lips. "I'm only human after all." She laughed openly at his attempt to be a gentleman and kept walking in.

"Oh Daryl, I'm sure you will find a way to control yourself," She told him, still laughing. The water was only up to her knees now and she enjoyed how Daryl's eyes were roaming over her body. He audibly gulped as she walked the rest of the way out of the water. She stood next to him, wringing out her hair. Daryl was leaning away from her like she had some sort of plague. "Honestly Daryl, there not explosives," She said gesturing at her boobs.

"I, uh, goodbye," He said turning away.

"You aren't seriously going to go like that are you?" She asked him.

He turned to her and said, "I, um-" He didn't get a chance to stutter out an excuse, because Steph leaned up and kissed him right on the lips. His hands went to her back as he hugged her wet body close to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he picked her up off the ground so he could fully press his lips against hers.

It was the best kiss she had ever experienced, hard and passionate he kissed her with everything he had. She moaned into his mouth before pulling away, "Now _that _was a goodbye." She laughed and he kissed her again.

This kiss was shorter than the first but no less passionate. When he let her go and placed her gently on the ground he did not release her from his arms. "You should probably put some clothes on," He told her, but continued to hold her.

"You seem to enjoy my lack of clothes more," She said looking up at him. He looked down at her with dilated pupils and licked his lips as he lowered his hot gaze to her puckered mouth. She expected him to kiss her again but instead he pulled himself away from her and turned around.

"Get dressed, I don't want Glenn seein' my girl in so little," He said in the gruff tone of his. She loved how he called her 'his girl'. It sent tingles all through her body. She dressed quickly and when she was finished she joined him where he waited. "Much better," He said in a tone that implied he thought it was anything but. She grinned up at him before taking his hand and walking with him up the trail to the camp.

Steph saw Andrea and Amy's eyes widen when they saw Daryl and hers entwined hands. She let them stare. Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog were already in the care when they got to the camps 'drive-way'. Glenn blushed and looked down when he saw their hands. Shane just smiled that arrogant smirk of his. One day she would smack it right off him. Daryl pulled her against him; she was shocked by such bold displays PDA from him. He seemed to understand her shock and said, "I want everyone to know your mine now."

Instead of kissing her full on the mouth, Daryl kissed Steph on the forehead and then hugged her close. "Don't take too long," She told him. Steph didn't really know what to say. She never was any good at goodbyes, even if he wasn't going for good.

"I'll be back before you know it," He said, looking into her eyes. Daryl kissed her forehead again. "Stay out of trouble, Darlin'," Steph guessed he wasn't any good at goodbyes either. She didn't want to say anything so she just nodded, Daryl got into the car. Steph could feel her eyes tearing up as she swallowed the lump in her throat. The car sped off down the road and Steph was left standing alone, Lori and Carl had been on the other side of the car, Lori looked at her disapprovingly.

Walking over to Andrea and Amy she saw their smirks, "Shut up," she said with a laugh. They just giggled. It was nice to know these two weren't going to judge her. Out of everyone in the camp the opinion of her adopted sisters mattered most to Steph. She knew what the group thought of Daryl, and she didn't give a shit.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**A/N **Please don't be pissed because I can't remember the actual dialogue. Likewise, I don't live in America so I don't know the fire escape protocol or anything. We don't have them in Australia. This has been a bit of a wait, but it was Christmas, so yeah. This chapter is a little different.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters.

_Daryl_

The drive into the city was pretty uneventful for Daryl; none of the guys spoke to him so he spent most of the ride sitting quietly next to the Chinaman. Lucky for him no one was brave enough to question Steph and his show of affection back at the camp, but Daryl did all the questioning himself. He shouldn't have gone to say goodbye to her. If he had just treated her like every other camper he wouldn't be sitting here freaking out. Was Steph safe? Was the camp really so much more vulnerable now that they had left to find Merle? Daryl would die if they returned to camp to find it had been attacked by walkers and Steph was dead. Just thinking about it made his heart beat faster and his palms sweat.

When he got back to camp, Daryl would set things right with Steph, no matter how much he wanted her, being with someone right now was just not possible. Not if you wanted to live. Daryl thought of their kiss, how perfect she had fit into his arms, the way her lips had been both bold and inexperienced. He had gone down to the lake to tell Steph he was going and her tent was set up. That was it. He had expected to find Steph sweating over his dirty clothes; you can imagine how surprised Daryl was when he found her swimming in only her underwear. Daryl was even more surprised to find he couldn't take his eyes off her. Okay, so he wasn't surprised, he just expected morals to be stronger than his attraction to her. Unfortunately, they weren't even close.

The truck was entering the city now and Rick pulled to a stop outside of what looked like a mall, "This is the building we left him in," Rick said. They all got out of the car and hurried along the footpath and into the building, Rick and Glenn led with Daryl close behind and T-Dog taking up the rear. The place was overrun with walkers; most seemed to be occupied with eating a corpse while others chased after them. T-Dog and Daryl killed some of the walkers before entering the building, but it was obvious they would need to get inside soon or the walkers would swamp them.

The shopping centre was an odd one, not that Daryl had seen too many before. One store per floor, which was grate because that meant there were fewer entry points, a smart move from the group that had previously come. The store held finer clothes than he was used too, most were undisturbed, but when the passed by the jewellery section of the store it didn't take a genius to see it had been looted. Daryl was distracted for a second by the image of Steph wearing a ring. Now was not the time to be thinking about her, hell, no time was a good time to think about her. Daryl was led into a stairwell and up the stairs; Rick and Glenn were talking as they made their way up the flights. "Last we knew the door to the roof was chained so the walkers couldn't get to him, we can either find another way onto the roof or we can fight off the walkers at the door and cut the chain." Rick said to them.

Daryl was all for fighting their way through the mosh pit of flesh eaters, but everyone else seemed to have issues with this, so they group began investigating ways to get to the roof. "Why don't we use the fire escape to get onto the roof, we can climb out a window and up to the roof." Glenn said, Daryl had to admit, the kid new his stuff when it came to getting around quietly. Everyone approved and soon they were all making their way to the roof via the fire escape. Walkers crowded around on the streets below them wanting an easy feed from anyone who fell. Sick bastards.

When they got the roof, Daryl was the first one to see that his brother wasn't there. The blind rage Daryl had experienced at the camp returned, but this time he didn't have a little blond Australian to calm him down. Merles' hand lay on the ground near the handcuffs, the only proof that his brother had been tied here like an animal. Rick had tied him up and left him to dead, T-Dog had 'accidentally' dropped the key, and Merle had been forced to cut off his own hand to survive. Daryl lunged at Rick; too angry to pay attention to anything other than beating the shit out of this bastard that was now the unofficial leader of their group.

Eventually they calmed him down enough to follow Merles' trail, but before they began to follow the blood drops, Daryl collected his brother's dead hand. He didn't really know why, it was just a passing thought, maybe it was his grief and anger making him insane, he didn't really care. Wrapping the hand in his handkerchief Daryl put the hand in Glenns' backpack, and then they set off. The blood was still wet and they followed it to another door on the roof that no one seemed to know existed. The door was still open, and when they went down the stairs they saw that another door was also open, Merle must have gone this way. Entering the floor, the men came across a kitchen, the smell of cooking flesh was still in the air and Daryl saw that one oven had been recently on. It was still hot to the touch. Merle must a cauterised his own wound. That tough son of a bitch.

Rick and T-Dog were talking about something, but Daryl didn't even pretend to listen, he was too busy inspecting the broken window that led out to the fire escape. The windows edges were bloodied and through it Daryl could see that the truck they had used to drive here was gone from where they had parked it. Fuck. Couldn't that asshole wait just a few minutes longer for the rescue team?

Daryl gave up on the idea of trying to follow the truck through the city, Merle was probably long gone by now and they had little chance of making it through the city alive without a car. The guys went on about finding the bag of weapons Rick had dropped, what a moron. Of all the fucking things to drop, it was a bag of lifesaving weapons. Needless to say, Daryl's opinion of Rick was pretty low. Daryl wondered why he was still with this group, maybe it was the security of safety in numbers, but deep down he knew it was because of Steph. Before Merle left, he was the main reason Daryl stayed with the group, to avoid being alone with him, but now that Merle was gone, Daryl had to second guess his motives, why stay with this hopeless group of idiots? It didn't take a lot of soul searching to find the answer. He did not, under any circumstance, want to leave Steph with them. If he was going, she was coming with him.

Daryl hadn't been listening, but the guys were making a plan to get the guns back, he joined them on the ground around a crudely drawn map of the area. Glenn was pointing as he showed Rick, T-Dog and Daryl his idea. They seemed to approve because next thing he knew, Daryl was being pushing down an alley and he was being briefed on what he was meant to be doing. Cover Glenn so he can make a run for the guns. Simple enough. But as Glenn left the alley and ran for the guns, Daryl heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a guy younger than Steph running towards him. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Daryl.

"Hey, kid," Daryl yelled, the guy flinched a little but stayed where he was. "Have you seen my brother? Named Merle, missin' a hand," He described, the boy didn't respond, just stood there look shit scared. His lack of response angered Daryl, what the fuck about him was threatening right now? He was asking about his brother, he wasn't even yelling. Little chicken-shit. Stalking towards the kid he asked again, "Have you seen my brother?" His tone was a lot more threatening now, and the boy gulped. When it was clear he wasn't going to talk Daryl's anger roared. He began throwing punches, unleashing his anger, frustration with the situation with Steph and his annoyance at being dragged into this goddamn plan to get back some guns he wasn't even going to use.

The kid had screamed at some stage, alerting Rick and T-Dog, the pair came running around the corner but came to a stop. But the boys' friends didn't, they ran up to Daryl and began to hit him. It hurt, but Daryl was still too high on adrenaline to feel most of it. Something distracted them enough that Daryl was able to stand without them kicking him down again. Glenn had arrived at the scene, carrying the bag of guns proudly on his shoulder. The Chinaman had great timing. The men tackled Glenn, pulling him into the car, but Daryl caught the kid before he was able to run to the safety of the car. When the driver saw they weren't getting him back anytime soon, they sped off, leaving Rick, Daryl and T-Dog swearing.

~0~

The day had been way too long for Daryl's liking. This was just meant to be a simple rescue mission, get Merle back, and maybe that stupid bag of weapons. Instead they had been forced to visit another survivor group and trade the stupid kid for Glenn and try for the bag. Turns out they were running some sort of hospital for the elderly, Daryl gave them maybe a month or two before their group either disbanded or was eaten apart by walkers. They were back on the road now, making their way back to the camp, Daryl still held a hope that Merle had driven there too. Maybe he would return and Merle would be hitting on Amy or Andrea and things would go back to the way they had been. Steph would just be the pretty new girl and that would be the end of it. The feelings he had with her would die and she would start to look at him with the same disgust and fear the rest of the women looked at him with.

It was too bad for Daryl he was physically hurting at the thought of not hugging her when he returned.

The houses began to spread out and gave way to forestry as the road began to climb. Soon enough the camp came into view, no truck in sight. But something about the camp wasn't right, and it only took a second for Daryl to see why. A walker was banging on the door to the RV. Daryl quickly did a scout of the people around the fire. Steph wasn't there. Daryl was only given a second to freak the fuck out before his mind went blank and he began to kill mercilessly, the adrenaline controlling his every action.

~0~

_Steph_

_15 Minutes Earlier_

Despite the warmth of the sun, Steph still felt a chill. Daryl should have been back by sundown, when he hadn't returned she had automatically gone into freak-out mode. She didn't want to never see him again; she refused to have only kissed him a few times. Steph had to stop herself from that train of thought, Daryl was fine. She would probably wake up in the morning and there Daryl would be, maybe Merle as well.

"I'm going to go to bed, goodnight everyone," Steph said, she walked away with a chorus of goodnight's at her back. Most of the kids had already gone to bed with their parents and only Amy, Andrea, Ed and Dale were still up. She was halfway to her tent beside Daryl's' when Amy caught up.

"I thought I might come to bed as well," She said. Steph could tell she wanted to talk, all day she had avoided Andrea and her sisters' questions about Daryl and what was going on between them. She should have known she couldn't escape it forever. Before the world went to hell she would spend hours talking about the new boy with her best friends. Her friends would put up with her rants about how perfect her new crush was until she got over him. She never went out with any of them; she didn't have enough time to maintain good grades, date and work. Steph decided to put away her fears of the inevitable girl-talk and inform Amy of her goings on.

"So, you want to talk about Daryl?" Steph said, deciding to put Amy out of her misery and cut to the chase.

"What happened down at that lake? You guys went from, like, hunting partners to, you know, partners super quick?" She asked her questions quickly, so excited that her friend had finally decided to share.

"Daryl walked down to the lake to say goodbye to me, I was kind of skinny dipping," Steph said with a grin.

"So, he saw you naked?" She asked her eyes as wide as saucers. Sometimes Amy was too innocent for her own good.

"No, I had my underwear on. I kind of launched myself at him."

"So you kissed him? Do you like him? I mean, I know you think he's hot and all."

"I didn't think I did, and then we started hunting together. It shocked me how quick a started liking him," Steph said, blushing furiously.

The pair had made their way to the tent and sat down on their respective beds. Amy had agreed to share the tent with Steph while Andrea stayed in the RV claiming that she didn't want to have to put up with their girlish ways. Steph had to admit, they were pretty wild when they wanted to be. This afternoon when they had started setting up the inside of their tent to distract Steph from worrying too badly about Daryl, they had gone crazy. After Daryl had left, Steph returned to her tent to find it filled with all the required gear. Inside were two cots, a fold out chair, ridiculous amounts of blankets and pillows that still smelled like Daryl and a little solar powered lantern.

The girls had decided to make it their own by decorating it with drawings and cut outs, it was ridiculous to think about such useless things in this post-apocalyptic world, but it made everything just a little bit more normal. Now there were drawings and a few pictures on the tent walls. At night, with the door zipped shut, you could almost forget that walkers were hunting for the flesh on your body.

"I've gotta pee," Steph told Amy. Standing up she took a few knives with her. Amy just nodded, already falling asleep on her cot. When Steph unzipped the tent she let out a scream. There were at least ten walkers outside, they hadn't noticed the slight glow of the tent, but they did notice the scream and soon enough six walkers were coming at her. "Amy, get my knives," She yelled at the startled girl.

Steph decided it was a good idea not to through her knives, she couldn't know how many walkers there were and how much time she would have to retrieve the thrown daggers. Remembering what Daryl had said, Steph focused her combat on the walkers' heads', they would only die if their brains were injured.

Two walkers were at arms' reach now, so she stabbed one in the eye and the other through the temple. She was shocked by how soft their skulls were, their bodies must have started decomposing. Her knives sunk easily into their brains, killing the walkers. More were coming now, and Steph found herself using all she had been taught. She slammed he handle of her dagger onto a walker's head, surprised when the skull caved in and her hand was dipped into its brain. That is disgusting. Amy and her would have to make a run for it soon, there were too many for her to fight on her own, and she doubted that Amy would be able to kill anything.

"Amy, cut a hole in the back of the tent," She yelled back to the younger girl. Steph looked for a break in the flow of walkers before zipping the tent back up, she turned and ran to the other end of the tent where Amy had cut a hole and was now cowering. Steph took Amy's hand and pulled her through the slit in the tent wall. Running on the out skirts of the camp, the girls made their way to the fire where everyone else was fighting off walkers, including Daryl.

In the back of her mind, the part that wasn't controlled by adrenaline, she did a little happy dance. Daryl was safe. Amy was shaking with fear when Steph took her katana and the rest of her daggers off of her. Steph left Amy with one dagger of her own, but she doubted she knew how to use it. Her eyes were flitting around nervously and she was sweating profusely. Steph briefly felt sympathy for her adopted sister, she wasn't prepared for this. Andrea had probably sheltered her from most of the fighting thus far.

The walkers hadn't noticed the girls quietly slinking through the shadows, soon enough they were in front of the RV, Amy was already climbing in, but Steph stayed outside. She could fight. Closing the door when Amy was safely inside she turned and began fighting alongside the men. Daryl still hadn't noticed her, and she was kind of glad. The last thing she needed was Daryl risking his own life because he thought she needed protection.

They fought the walkers for what felt like hours, but, by judging the number of dead on the ground around them; it was only ten minutes or so. The hoard that attacked the camp had about 50 walkers in it. They were all at different stages of decomposition, making Steph a little hopeful. If the walkers' bodies were decomposing, then eventually they would all rot away to nothing. There was a chance for the survivors.

Most of the women congregated together in front of the RV, while the men and Steph checked to make sure all the walkers' were dead. The last thing they needed was someone being bitten when they picked up the body to burn it.

Carol was crying over Ed, he wasn't dead yet, just unconscious, but he had a nasty bite on his neck. It was flowing like a tap, making Steph think he would last maybe a few more minutes. She left Carol and Sophia alone to grieve then. They didn't need an audience. Andrea and Amy were both safe and unbitten, Steph thanked the heavens that they were okay, she wasn't sure how she would handle losing another sister so soon after Jess' death. The memory still made her a little teary so she pushed it out of her mind.

By now Daryl had noticed she was alive, but he hadn't made an attempt at talking to her. All she got in recognition was a nod at her after he checked her for scratches or bites. That was it. After their kisses and the sweet goodbye, he wouldn't even look at her. Steph fumed. He had used her, made her believe he was her friend, maybe more, and then totally abandoned her. She would get back at him, when the time came. Right now they had bodies to burn, they worked late into the night, checking and double checking that the camp was safe for what was left of the night. Steph entered the RV and found Dale, just who she was looking for.

"Dale, do you have any tape? Amy and I had to cut our tent," she asked him.

"Ah, I think I have some lying around..." He trailed off as he opened random cupboards and attempted to find something in the mess of the RV. "Here it is!" He said. Even after a devastating attack, he was always cheery.

"Thanks Dale, sleep tight," She said, leaving the RV. Walking through the camp, she cringed at the foul stench of the walkers' bodies. It would be a sleepless night for Steph. At her tent she was surprised to find Amy had passed out on her bed. Steph covered her in a blanket before she started to mend the ripped tent wall. Steph's mind was fuzzy with exhaustion so taping the slit was harder than she originally thought, but eventually she fixed it appropriately enough to get them through the night.

Steph was surprised when she lay down and fell right asleep. She must have been more tired than she originally thought.

~0~

The sun was high in the sky by the time Steph woke up. The tent had grown increasingly hot, but that wasn't what woke her. It was her pressing need to pee. She hadn't got to last night, so now she was truly busting. Getting dressed and unzipping the tent, Steph welcomed the breeze of the late morning. The walkers had been cleared from the front of her tent; all that remained now was a few blood spots on the ground and on the tent. Checking Daryl's tent, Steph wasn't surprised when she saw Daryl wasn't there. When there was work to be done, Daryl would be doing it.

Most of the people were moving bodies into a pile to be burned, Daryl was helping T-Dog carry a body when she went to Carol and hugged her. The lady had become a sort of mum to Steph in her time at the camp. Carol collapsed in her arms and wailed over her abusive husband. Carol loved him even though he was an asshole. Sophia was sitting on a log beside Carl, just staring into the distance, the girl needed to grieve and her mother was so busy grieving herself she hadn't noticed. Over Carols' shoulder she motioned for Andrea to go to Sophia, she immediately complied and soon the young girl was crying into Andrea as she offered her comfort.

Daryl still hadn't said anything to her, so when Carol let her go Steph picked up some gloves and asked the guys shifting the bodies, "What do you need me to do, boys?"

"Well, you could help Glenn dig graves or you can help us shift bodies." T-Dog told her, he was trying to ease the tension between her and Daryl with his sly humour. Forcing a laugh Steph look at Daryl for a second, hiding her anger with a polite smile.

"I think we have it covered here, you should help Glenn." He said in a flat voice. T-Dog shrugged and gave her a wink. It seemed sometimes, T-Dog knew everything. He certainly saw right through her polite facade and into her anger.

Steph gave T-Dog a sly grin and walked away to help Glenn. When she got to him she picked up a shovel and began to dig in the partially done hole beside Glenn. "You're alive!" She said to him in a mock Frankenstein voice. He laughed as he dug. She continued, "We were so worried about you guys when you didn't come home last night, and then I didn't see you when you came back. You had me scared for a second," She told him. She knew he had a crush on her, and she wanted to be nice about it.

"Really, I thought you only had eyes for Daryl?" He asked back, she noted the slight bitterness to his tone. She wasn't surprised.

"Oh, him? That was nothing. He's just a friend," She didn't even believe the bullshit she was saying.

"Mmhmm," was all his response. She could tell he didn't believe her. The pair resumed their silent digging. The graves weren't as deep as normal graves, they just didn't have time. The bodies would have to be buried soon, Steph had heard talk of leaving the camp. She wasn't surprised, last night while she checked over the bodies, she had realised that this place was no longer safe; their best bet at surviving would be to keep moving.

Glenn and Steph dug until the sun was nearly setting, she used her anger as encouragement to keep digging, even when her arms ached and sweat was running down her back. The exercising felt good, she had spent too long sitting about in the camp cooking and washing clothes. When Andrea fetched them for afternoon tea Steph nearly collapsed in relief. When Steph was given her green apple she sat outside her tent, loving the breeze and the coolness of the shade. Her arms would be killing her tomorrow, but right now she enjoyed the feeling of her muscles relaxing.

Amy came into view then with Carl following behind her in a pair of swimming trunks. "We're going for a swim, wanna come?" She asked, Steph thought it was exactly what she needed.

"Sure, but I don't have a bikini or anything," Steph said, silently hoping that Amy would offer Steph one of her own.

"Don't worry about that, I have one that might fit." She said. The girls left Carl sitting in the chair outside the tent and went inside to change. Amy produced a ridiculously small bikini and threw it at Steph. She gave a little prayer as she undressed and pulled the bikini on. It only just fit.

She turned to Amy and gave her a grin, "It only just fits, but it will do for what I have in mind."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Daryl's been ignoring me since he got back. This is my revenge," Steph told her. Amy just laughed and unzipped the tent. Carl was still waiting patiently outside. Daryl wasn't in his tent, but Steph figured he would be near the RV, where Andrea was. Under the pretence that she was going to ask Sophia, Andrea and Carol if they would like to come, Steph headed up.

As she got closer, Steph began to think this was a bad idea; nearly everyone was at the campfire, planning and arguing whether to go to the CDC or Fort Benning. Steph didn't really care where they went; neither was going to be safe. When Andrea saw her she gave a low whistle, "Damn, if only I looked like that in a bikini..." She said, but not with bitterness.

"Carl, Amy and I are going for a swim, anyone want to come?" She asked the group, everyone turned to look at her and she saw Shane and Glenn's' jaws drop. Dale just looked down embarrassed, Rick was just indifferent. But above all Daryls' reaction was the best. His eyes glazed over and he sucked in a deep breath before gulping. She saw his hand clench around the hilt of his knife and the steel he was using to sharpen it.

"No thanks, I would love to but I'm a little busy at the moment," Andrea said, bringing her attention back to the question she had asked. Everyone was shaking their heads, no. Daryl got up and walked to his tent, Steph guessed he wasn't coming. Steph shrugged and made her way to the back of the camp and down the trail to the lake. She loved how the woods were so quiet at twilight; it seemed that everything was muted at this time of day. Steph took her time walking down to the lake, knowing that it was probably the last time she would do it. The group would be packing up and leaving tomorrow, from what she had overheard at the campfire they would be going to the CDC, if anywhere had a cure, it was there.

Steph was halfway to the lake when Daryl popped out from the woods; she had been hoping he would. Finally they were alone, face to face and maybe she could get some answers out of the redneck.

"Hello Daryl," She said calmly, Steph knew he was going to lecture her, probably about her wearing so little in front of everyone else. Honestly, Daryl needed to toughen up, he obviously didn't want anything to do with her anymore, so that little protective instinct he had would have to die as well. Steph smiled to herself, if he was going to pretend she meant nothing to him, she was going to make his life living hell until he admitted to his feelings. She knew he had them, just like she knew she had them as well.

"Don't 'Hello Daryl' me, what the fuck was that?" He asked her. His wasn't yelling yet, but she could tell he was close. When she looked innocently at him, as if she had no idea what he was talking about Daryl continued, "That little strip tease for everyone to see, don't do shit like that when I'm around ok."

Steph wondered why he was being like this, if he just owned up to his feelings for her, then things could be a hell of a lot easier. "Why the fuck not Daryl? Apparently you don't give two shits about what I do anyway..." She let herself trail off, nothing more needed to be said on _that _matter.

Daryl looked torn, like he was just realising that he could have his cake and eat it too. About fucking time. He huffed before looking her in the eyes, "Don't spin that bullshit, you know it isn't true. I'm trying to be nice about this, I don't think it's a great idea for us to be together. You dancin' around naked in front of me makes it a hell of a lot harder to stick to that." He told her. His voice was softer now, but it still had that gravelly tone in it that told Steph she was still in trouble.

"Why won't we work, Daryl?" She persisted, stepping closer to his body; he stepped further away, keeping their bodies distant. She frowned slightly at this. He was pretty set on not being with her.

~0~

_Daryl_

Daryl didn't know how to respond to her outright question; even in his own mind he couldn't find an answer. He eyes were looking up at him, all blue and honest. He wanted her, but it was a seriously bad idea to get together with someone right now. Fend for yourself or die. Daryl's mind laughed bitterly, that was complete bullshit. It didn't matter if you were with someone, when you were in a group you had to look out for everyone else anyway.

Daryl took a deep breath; it was time to admit that he couldn't be with her because he didn't feel good enough. That was why he had been avoiding her all this time. A pretty, smart, brave, kind was never going to love Daryl. She would be with him all of a week before she would get bored of his dumbass personality and ditch him.

Steph was still looking at him with those big blue eyes, waiting for his response. He would be damned if he told her the truth so Daryl did the next best thing. Summoning all his strength he looked he directly in the eyes and lied, "Maybe we won't work 'cause I don't like you." He was expecting her to yell and scream and call him all the names under the sun. What he wasn't expecting was for her eyes to fill with tears. He was nearly brought to his knees at the sight, ready to beg for forgiveness. Daryl wasn't given the chance; Steph turned on her heel and ran back up the trail to the camp.

"Fuck," He yelled to himself. Walking to the nearest tree he punched it as hard as he could, all he could see were her eyes, filled with tears and hurt, He punched the tree over and over again, bits of bark fell to the ground at his feet. Finally, tired and sore he sat on the ground and rested against the beaten tree. What had he done? The person he cared about most in this godforsaken camp was now crying because he was too much of a coward to commit himself to a relationship. The only comfort Daryl had was knowing it wouldn't have worked out anyway.

He was distracted from his depressing thoughts by the sight of Amy and Carl running up the trail, "Hey, have you seen Steph? She was meant to join us at the lake a while ago, but she never showed up," Amy said. She was looking at him accusingly, Steph had probably told her everything that happened between Steph and him.

"She's back at the camp," He told them.

"Go on ahead, I need to ask Daryl about squirrels," Amy told Carl. His nose scrunched up but he ran along anyway. Daryl knew he was in for it now. "You're a real piece of work you know. You could have been nice about it. But no, you just had to shut her down as soon as you got what you wanted." Daryl winced at the accusation; it wasn't far from the truth. He could have been nicer about it, but she wouldn't have believed him.

"You don't know what you're talkin' about," Daryl said. He rose from where he sat and began walking to the camp. Amy chased after him.

"Oh really, you knew she liked you. I mean, Steph isn't really into subtlety. You let her kiss you, hell; you let her continue kissing you, in front of the whole camp. Then the next thing she knows you're acting like nothing even happened. Do you have any idea how humiliating that must have been? The whole camp knows!" Daryl was pretending not to listen, but really, he was dying inside as Amy informed him just to what extent he had fucked things up.

He could see the camp now, it was pretty dark, but Daryl could see the lit fire and everyone sitting around it. Everyone except Steph. Amy rushed past him and into Steph and her tent. It wasn't lit at all but he could faintly hear Amy comforting Steph as she cried. Andrea was looking at him accusingly from over the fire and he had to fight not to flinch. Making his way into his tent he settled down on his bed, listening to the muffled sounds of Steph crying. This was his punishment for fucking things up so badly. He would endure this right beside her, whether she knew it or not.

Eventually her crying settled down, but she didn't leave her tent. Daryl sat up in his cot, looking for something to distract himself from going to Steph. He noticed now that everything he had put in Steph's tent had been thrown in the corner of his, even the cot. Putting his face in his hands, Daryl fought the urge to hit something again. Cautiously, as though the pile of camping equipment might bite him Daryl moved towards it. Kneeling beside the blankets he could faintly smell Steph, it was like a punch to his gut. Daryl picked up a blanket and brought it to his face, her smell was intoxicating and painful at the same time. Daryl had to remind himself why he had done what he did, she would never like him the way he liked her, it just wasn't possible. She would get over him eventually; it was just a crush, a silly little infatuation she had.

It was insane that she could be in the tent next to Daryl's but he could miss her so much, just thinking about her brought images of her crying face. Right then, Daryl was jealous of the walkers.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**A/N **I am so sorry about the long wait! I had a major case of writer's block, so if there is ANYTHING wrong or annoying about this chapter, tell me. I love constructive criticism. I hope everyone had a great New Year!

_Steph_

Amy woke Steph up by hovering a plate of cooked squirrel under her nose, anyone that has known Steph for more than a day knew she thought primarily with her stomach. In the past it had resulted in being overweight most of the time, but in this new world Steph was bordering underweight and she eyed food distastefully. Maybe it was the long term effect of seeing the gore of the walkers, but she couldn't look at meat without her stomach clenching in revulsion. Nearly everyone at camp new about this odd trait, she had steadfastly refused to eat meat unless it was vital for her health.

The tent was hot for dawn, Steph knew it was going to be a sticky road trip to the CDC. "Arrg, get that away from me." Steph croaked to Amy, she tried rolling onto her side but her tent mate gently held her shoulders down.

"Sorry, no can do. Andrea and Carol told me to force you to eat this." Amy said as though she was reciting from a textbook. Hesitantly Steph sat up and took the plate from Amy, who busied herself with packing up her vast wardrobe that was currently spread across the floor. "Andrea told me to set aside some clothes for you," She pointed to the pile of clothes closest to Steph's bed. Amy didn't seem to care much about her stuff, but to Steph, who had been wearing the same things for days now, they were precious.

Despite her hatred of meat, it actually didn't taste to bad, scarfing down the food quickly, Steph set aside the plate and went to inspect the pile. In it Steph found a goldmine of summer wear. Short shorts, the bikini she wore yesterday, numerous tank tops, sweat pants and a few pairs of bras and underwear.

Disappointed in herself for sleeping in, Steph changed quickly into the short shorts and a tank top, enjoying the feeling of her legs being free of any cover. Making her way to wear Andrea was washing the dished, Steph checked out the action in the camp. Nearly all the tents had been collapsed; the campsite was bare once again. A pang of guilt hit her, because she slept in, the camp would need to wait for Amy and her to pack up. Why had anyone let her sleep so late?

"You gunna stand there all day?" Andrea asked Steph. She handed her plate over quickly and scurried back to the tent.

Amy had packed all of her things away by the time Steph got back. "Why did you let me sleep in so late?" Steph asked Amy.

"Andrea and I figured you needed it. With everything that's happened you must be really run down. I mean and fought a whole bunch of walkers, then helped the men drag their bodies into piles and on top of that Daryl totally fucked you over," Steph winced at her choice of words, "Sorry." She said half-heartedly, noticing Steph's wince.

Amy walked over and started helping Steph pack away her few belongings. In no time the two were outside their tent looking at it with confusion. How in the name of all fuck were they going to get this thing down? It was one of the bigger tents in camp, therefore one of the most confusing. By now Shane had noticed them pausing at and looking at the tent, walking over he said, "Don't worry about it ladies, I'll have her down in no time. Go put your stuff near the cars." He shooed them off with a wave of his hands.

The pair walked towards the cars, where T-Dog was stuffing luggage into the boots and back seats. Each car had a separate pile; obviously the RV had the largest pile, with Amy adding her stuff on top. Carols old wagon **(A/N Sorry I forgot the cars and such.) **had the next largest pile, Rick, Lori, Carl, Carol and Sophia would be in that car. Next was Shane's jeep, with only his stuff already packed into it. Behind that was Daryl's old truck, Merles bike strapped to the bed. Steph had a dilemma, who was she going to ride with, the RV was packed, Carols car too, she would die before riding with Daryl and she didn't know Shane that well.

Amy paid no mind to her worrying and went to help Andrea; Steph was left standing awkwardly in front of the convoy of vehicles. T-Dog had finished packing the wagon and was looking at Steph with amusement. Despite being with this camp for so long, she barely knew anyone. "Just go with Shane, he won't mind," said T-Dog. When he saw her confusion he explained, "It seems your only options are Shane or Daryl, given the... animosity between you and Daryl I would say going with Shane is your best bet." Trust T-Dog to make everything seem so simple.

"I barely know him, and I don't want to intrude or anything." She told T.

"Don't be silly, you ain't intruding, Shane would probably love to have the company." He said. Nodding Steph made her way over to the jeep. It was already packed with all kinds of different equipment. Everything was already strapped down, and given that she only had a duffel bag and her knives Steph just put her things on the passenger's side floor.

Steph figured that she should tell Shane she was riding with him, so she made her way back to her tent where Shane had lowered the tent to the ground. "Hey, uh Shane, I just wanted to ask... or tell you I guess, that I'll be riding with you," She stuttered. It wasn't that she was scared of Shane; Steph just didn't want to piss anyone else off. She already had an angry redneck to deal with.

"Oh, cool, did you find space for your stuff?" Shane asked, he didn't seem to notice worry.

"Yeah,' she said, "Do you need help with that?" Steph asked, noticing how he was struggling to wrestle some poles.

"That would be great, I never was any good at this part," He said, smiling up at her. Steph walked over and began pulling the poles out from the loops. Shane had got his al tangled up when he was trying to do it himself, so it took a little longer than usual.

In no time the tent was packed up and Shane and Steph were struggling to squeeze the large tent into its small bag. Shane was pushing in the tent while Steph held the bag open. It was nearly all the way in when Shane's hands slipped and he tumbled ungracefully onto Steph, knocking them both over. If that wasn't awkward enough, Daryl chose this moment to waltz out of the woods and find them in this compromising position.

No one did anything for a few seconds, Steph was staring at Daryl, who seemed to be in shock, and Shane had frozen completely above her. Daryl was the first to break the tense silence, his eyes suddenly flaring with anger, "You could at least take it somewhere else," He said, stalking towards his truck and throwing his pile of ropes in the back.

Shane coughed above her before muttering, "Sorry," and climbing off of her and standing up. No one else in the camp had seemed to notice the awkward moment. "I'll uh, take care of the tent," He said, avoiding her eyes. Steph stood up and hurried to help Andrea and Amy carry the cookware from the campfire to the RV.

The rest of the camp had congregated in front of the cars; Daryl was already in his truck, glaring straight ahead at Shane's jeep. Everyone was beginning to make their way to their cars when Morales family spoke up. The children were huddled in front of their parents, "We have family in Birmingham," They told the group, "We need to be with our people, we won't be coming with you," Morales told Rick.

"You're sure that's what you want?" Rick asked, "No one to watch your back?" He wasn't trying to bribe them or anything, just informing the family of the risk they were taking for their most likely dead family. Steph hadn't been very close with the Spanish family, but she couldn't help but tear up at losing more people. Deciding to give the family privacy with the rest of the group, Steph went and joined Shane in the jeep. The leather was hot on her bare legs when she said down, but Steph welcomed the feeling.

"It's a pity about that family, Morales was a good man." Shane said, watching as the family waved at the convoy. One by one the cars started and they moved out, already Steph was glad to be in the jeep instead of the RV. The breeze felt heavenly and Shane wasn't too bad to be around. "There are some CD's in the glove box if you want to put some music on." He told her once they were speeding along the highway.

The selection was mainly hardcore rock and stuff like that, but Steph soon found a CD that boasted bands like AC/DC and Kiss. It was better than nothing. Popping the CD into the player, both Steph and Shane laughed at the first song. Highway to Hell. The irony was just too good. Above the music and wind Shane shouted, "What's with Dixon, he's been riding up my ass nearly since we got on the highway."

Steph hadn't noticed the truck before now, but looking back Steph saw the Daryl was indeed riding up Shane's ass. She could feel rather that see Daryl glaring at her, she made a gesture telling Daryl to back off, but he continued to follow closely. Turning back around Steph suddenly realised that Daryl was jealous, he had walked in on Shane and her supposedly doing stuff and now she was riding with him. It did look as though they were forming a relationship that Daryl was not happy about.

Answering Shane, Steph yelled, "Me and him had a bit of a thing, but he changed his mind, I guess he's just pissed that I moved on so quickly." Shane looked frightened for a second, "Not that I have moved on or anything, it's just that he saw us this morning and now I'm riding with you... it looks kinda suss." Shane relaxed after she explained.

"Well, let's give 'im something to be pissed about." Shane said before taking her hand and lifting it into the breeze. Steph's other hand followed so that she had both her arms in the breeze. Behind them, Steph heard Daryl get even closer. However, they were saved from being rammed from behind by the sound of the RV beeping. The convoy pulled over and Steph saw Andrea climb out of the RV. Soon everyone was out of their cars and making their way to where Dale, Carol, Rick and Lori were discussing something.

"It's not out decision to make, Jim want to be left behind. We have to respect that wish." Lori was telling the group sternly, Carol was nodding as she spoke. Everyone else was mulling about, stretching their legs in the shade. Steph was making her way over to Amy and Andrea was Daryl grabbed her arm.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked. Daryl's voice wasn't angry but she could see in his eyes that he was fuming. "What's all this with Shane an' you?" He asked when they were behind his truck.

"I really don't see how that is your business. You need to stop doing this Daryl, you said yourself that you didn't want to be together, and I'm just trying to have fun." She told him.

Daryl didn't respond right away, perhaps he was seeing the sense in her words. "I didn't say I didn't want to be with you," He said, kind of shyly. She could see now that he was blushing and avoiding her eyes.

Something inside of Steph melted; he wanted to be with her! "If you want to be with me, why are you ignoring me? If I want to be with you and you want to be with me, why aren't with together?" She asked, her voice softening. She still didn't understand Daryl. One minute he saying they can't be together, the next he's getting pissed 'cause she was innocently hanging out with another guy. "Honestly Daryl," Steph made to walk away from him, but caught her arm again, stopping her.

"I'm sorry, okay. It's just that, I'm not really good at this kinda thing..." He stopped talking, his brow was furrowed in concentration. "I don't like Shane... touchin' you. I don't like other guy... you know." He said. She could tell it was really difficult for Daryl to say these things and it touched her that he was willing to try.

"So what are you saying, we can't be together but I can't be with anyone else?" She asked, with Daryl, you had to force his feelings out of him.

"Uh, no," Daryl grunted, frustrated with himself, "I guess, I wanna, try... to you know... be together, I s'pose," Daryl was beet red now and Steph had to fight not to giggle. Usually he was so tough, it was refreshing to see him let down his guard.

As her answer Steph jumped up and hugged his tense shoulders. Daryl didn't immediately respond to her hug, just stood there for a bit. When he did relax and hug her back he lifted her off her feet so that her face was in front of his. Daryl's face was still red, but now it was relieved, his arms tightened around her waist, "Now go get yer shit outta the pigs car, yer riding with me now." He said, lowering Steph to the ground softly.

Running quickly to the jeep Steph her things and returned to the truck, placing them in the bed she looked at Daryl and winked, "I always wanted to have sex in the bed of a truck," She laughed at his shocked face and the deep blush that had coloured from his collarbones to his hairline. Daryl turned away and began walking back to where the group was standing in front of Jim, who was propped against a tree. Judging from the paleness of his skin, and the dullness of his eyes, Steph estimated that he had maybe two hours at most before he passed. The man was in obvious pain, but he was long past the point of caring. One by one the survivors said their goodbyes to Jim, most of the women were crying, while the men nodded their respect to the dying man. There were no words for something like this.

Kneeling beside Jim, Steph gently hugged him; his skin was clammy and cold to the touch. A pang of sympathy resounded through her; she would have shot herself in the head by now. The rest of the group was making their way back to their cars by now, and Steoh was left alone with Jim. Smiling softly at the older man she asked, "I can end it now for you, if that's what you want?" She gestured to her daggers.

"You don't have to do that dear..." He said, but she could tell by the suffering in his voice that he wanted it.

"No one should have to die like this." She told him. Jim nodded and Steph saw him swallow.

"If you're sure..." He let the sentence trail off, Steph didn't blame him, no one should have to discuss their death like this. Steph rose the dagger to the back of his neck, right were his scull mead his neck.

Looking into Jim's eyes she saw him nod, telling her it was okay, "Goodbye, Jim." Quickly before she could change her mind she sent the dagger deep into Jim's brain. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body slumped into the tree. Tears were in her eyes now, not yet spilling over.

~0~

_Daryl_

Daryl was sitting in his truck when he saw Steph walking back from where Jim was. He knew something was up, even from a distance he could see the wetness of her eyes. Daryl hoped it didn't have anything to do with their newfound... relationship. To be honest, he didn't know what to call it, girlfriend didn't seem to be appropriate, and they were much more than friends. All Daryl really knew was that she was his, and he would be damned if he let Shane or any other guy put his hands on her.

Steph climbed into his truck and sat against the door, half hanging out the window, Daryl didn't know what to say to her. She was clearly upset about something. "What happened?" He asked when the convoy had started moving again.

"Jim didn't want to turn into one of those things, so I helped him." She said simply, Daryl automatically knew what she meant. She had put him out of his misery and saved him from becoming a walker. He could see Steph wiping her eyes, so Daryl reached across and dragged her body over to his. Daryl hated to see her upset; something inside of Daryl clawed and growled when he saw her cry. She was his, and he would destroy anything that upset her.

With his arm hanging over her shoulders, he could feel the sobs the shook her body, it didn't matter how tough she pretended to be, killing someone, even if it was out of mercy, couldn't be an easy thing to do. Steph's face was pressed against his neck now, and he could feel the wetness of her tears wetting his skin and shirt. Daryl didn't mind though, part of him was ridiculously happy that she was relying on him for comfort.

Hell, Daryl was never and cuddle type of person, but something about Steph, with her pale skin and big blue eyes, made Daryl want to hold her tightly and never let her go. Daryl had never comforted someone before, especially not a girl. He hadn't even touched a girl before Steph. The thought made him uncomfortable, because it brought images of Merle giving him hell about it. 'Yer such a pussy 'bout it little bro, just nail the slut." He would say to Daryl after a night at the bar.

It wasn't that he hadn't, he had had a woman before. But they had almost always been drunk and he had never had to stick around afterwards. It was always the classic wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am situation. Daryl had never been in a relationship before, most of the time he was too busy taking care of Merle or working.

By now, Steph had settled down, the initial shock of Jims death had worn off. "Don' dwell on it. Ya did what had ta be done." He told her. She nodded slowly beside him.

"I think I might try and get some sleep," She told him. What he wasn't expecting was her to lay down on the worn seat of his truck and rest her head on his thigh. "Is this okay with you?" She asked, gesturing to how she was lying. He could only grunt in response. He head was so close to his dick that his whole body was tensing in anticipation. Part of Daryl was scolding himself, _that _wasn't what she needed right now. But the larger part of Daryl, the part that was completely male was holding its breath. If he so much as moved in the right way, no wrong way, she would be touching him.

Soon enough she fell asleep and Daryl could relax again, the wind was cooling his over-heated skin and the roads were beginning to show signs of abandonment. Wrecked cars lay all over the highway and Daryl had to concentrate on navigating his way through them without jostling Steph from her uneasy slumber. Every now and then she would move slightly and Daryl would tense up again. One time her hand even ghosted over his crotch and Daryl nearly moaned out loud.

They had been driving for nearly two hours when they started to enter the city; Daryl decided it would be best to wake Steph up in case anything bad happened. He gently laid his hand on her should and shook. He wasn't surprised when she woke up quickly, her sleep had been mostly restless. She sat up and made to go back to her side of the seat but Daryl held her close. It was the only way he knew to show her he cared.

"How long was I asleep?" She asked, wiping sleep from her eyes.

"'Bout an hour," Daryl replied. Steph raised her legs onto the dashboard, giving Daryl a lovely view of his girl. Despite it being the end of the world, Steph still managed to keep her legs smooth and hairless. This led Daryl's mind to what else was hairless; he felt his face get hot. It felt weird now; they had finally decided to become something. Daryl still couldn't believe that this beautiful girl was willing to be with him, but he wasn't going to ask questions.

Steph began to slowly stretch out her body, first her neck, then her arms, torso and legs. Daryl tried not to make it obvious that he was staring as she did it. He torso and back was the best part, she would arch her back off of the seat, forcing her chest outward. She grinned at him when she was finished, telling him she knew he had been enjoying the show.

She laughed openly when she saw his blush, "Tease," Daryl muttered. She laughed harder at that. "What?" He asked think that there was some hidden joke. Daryl suddenly got self-conscious.

"Honey, I'm not teasing, I'm promising. Plus, it's all yours anyway," She said, her voice dropping to a low seductive murmur. Daryl gulped at this. He was used to women being forward with him, but this particular girl was something else. His mind filled with images of those legs wrapped around his naked waist, Steph arching her back against him. "Don't worry, you do plenty of teasing yourself," She added, whispering in his ear. "You walk around, these sexy arms on display in those sleeveless shirts, all sweaty," He could feel her body shiver against his. The air was thick with sexual tension and Daryl could feel the tightening in his pants.

It amazed him that he had an effect on her, she was practically perfect in his eyes and here she was confessing that she wanted him just as bad. Daryl literally couldn't speak he was so turned on. As if to torture him further she ran the tip of her finger from his shoulder to his hand, where he was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white. Using her whole hand she moved back up his arm again making his body break out with goose bumps.

His body was practically humming now with need for her, he couldn't resist from lowering his arm and clamping his hand on her bare thigh. They lapsed into a comfortable, if not a tense silence and Daryl could concentrate on the road now. The rest of the convoy was a good 50 metres in from of them now; he had started driving slow when she had started her ministrations on his body. Now he stepped on the gas to catch up. Everyone had stopped outside of the imposing structure of the CDC. As if the deserted building wasn't enough to crush their dreams, the stench of the dead did it.

**A/N **So this Chapter is shorter, I didn't want to write something and you guys hate it. Please tell me what you think about how I've started their relationship. Tell me if I'm going in the right direction or not. And please ignore any typos or spelling mistake or grammar fuck ups.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**A/N **Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it really helps to know other people think your story is good. Sorry about the changes from third person to second person.

_Steph_

The ground outside of the CDC was nearly completely covered in some sort of rotting gore; the smell had many of the survivors gagging. Steph had climbed out of the truck by now and was bent at the waist trying to calm her stomach and stop the violent gags wracking her body. This was not the first time Steph had seen mass devastation such as this. During her travels with Jess, they had often come across decaying scenes of family suicides and the occasional dead puppy. It sounded cold hearted to say it like that, but after her months in the post-apocalyptic world, Steph had hardened to it. You don't have time to cry over dead pets or weep for people you didn't know.

By now the Georgian heat had reduced the dead bodies to piles of bloody matter and bones, so Steph was able to ignore the sadness in her, the part of her that hated to see this many people dead. Rick led the group through a clearer part of the gardens, but occasionally Steph would feel sliminess beneath her foot, but unlike Andrea ahead of her she didn't dare look down. They were nearly at the doors of the building when Daryl yelled behind her, "Walkers!"

The group rushed into action, forming a protective line around the women and children, but Steph refused to join them like a helpless lamb. The walkers were still pretty far away, so instead of trying to fight them off, Rick and Daryl pushed the group further away and closer to the CDC. Steph was too busy keeping her eyes on the marching dead to notice that their safe haven, the CDC, showed no signs of life, but she did hear Carol's wail as the realisation hit her that we were most likely going to lose people in our fight back to the cars, a mere 200 meters away.

Daryl was standing close beside me now, watching as the walkers grew closer and their chances of escaping got smaller. The walkers were maybe ten metres in front of us now, Daryl was aiming his crossbow and I was getting into my fighting stance. Maybe I was getting my period or something, but I was so pissed at these motherless fucking geeks constantly ruining my mood. Like, an hour ago I was flirting with Daryl and we were being all cute, now I was fighting for my life and the lives of the rest of the group. They had an annoying habit of freaking out in the middle of battle.

Rick had completely lost it behind me, he was shouting some bullshit at a camera as Shane paced around trying to think of any possible way we could survive this. Daryl was reloading his crossbow now, but I doubted he would be able to use it before the geeks were on us. A walker was coming right at me, maybe it was less decayed than the others or something, but it was ahead of the main pack, so I lunged at the former-human, sinking my dagger into its soft skull and pushing it back into the hoard.

The sound of a roller door opening rattled behind me, I turned and found the bright lights of the inside of the CDC glaring back at me. Most of the women and children had made their way inside now, and it was just me and the men left outside now. Shane, piss-bolted into the doors as soon as he saw that the others were alright, Rick followed, leaving Daryl and I running through the door way. It was already closing now and Daryl had to duck to get in.

A man dressed in a white lab coat, presumably a doctor, was talking. "You'll have to submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission." He told Rick formally. Rick confirmed that this was okay and soon enough the doctor was introducing himself. "I'm Dr. Jenner." He shook Ricks' hand. Apparently no one else in the group mattered because Rick just said his name followed by "... And this is my group." Asshole.

Leading us down through a rats nest of hallways, Dr Jenner showed us our sleeping quarters and made to leave.

"Wait! Where's everyone else?" I asked. He turned back to me, as though he hadn't realised I was there, and gave me a questioning look.

"I'm all there is," he told me. I felt the group behind me make a collective gasp and soon enough Dr. Jenner was inundated with questions. I didn't catch much of what was being said because everyone's voices eclipsed each others, but eventually Dr. Jenner led us to another room. This one was all stainless-steel and computers. An automatic voice, Vi, told us hello and welcome. Lovely, the CDC was reduced to one man and a computer.

All at once I felt the hopelessness hit me, what was the chance of one man finding a cure. If he hadn't yet, I doubt he ever will. Soon enough the group was led back to the sleeping area and people were claiming rooms. Like it mattered, a couch was better than a sleeping bag on ground. Daryl subtly grabbed my hand and led me to our own room, sly bastard. I was pulled out of my depressing thoughts when Jenner announced that we could use the hot water. Mother of all things beautiful and holy, there was hot water! I could make myself attractive again! Now I had a boyfriend (if that's what you could call Daryl) to look attractive for! I was very giddy at the idea.

"What's up wit' you?" Daryl asked when he had closed the door, almost immediately his hands were on my waist and it was like back in the truck. It didn't surprise me that Daryl was not a PDA type of person, he barely ever showed any emotion to anyone in the group.

"Hot water is what's up with me! No more leechy lake water," Daryl rolled his eyes at my childish excitement. This was something only girls understand. Grabbing his massive hand a led him over to our bags, which had mysteriously shown up here. Mine had barely anything in it, just a book Dale had given me, some clothes and pictures and one precious bottle of Southern Comfort. I had never had it before because it wasn't in Australia, but I had smelled it before taking it from the store I had found it in. It was strong enough to get me wasted on two sips. What can I say? I'm a lightweight.

"Lake was better, no doors," Daryl grinned, reminding me of the time we had first kissed. I handed him the bottle and began to dig out some clean clothes. At the back of our room was an open doorway that led to a private bathroom. I bundled my clothes and left my spot in Daryl's arms, walking into the bathroom I left the door open.

"The way I see it, doors can be left wide open." I called as I undressed in the bathroom. I could hear Daryl laugh but he didn't join me. I hadn't expected him too, now wasn't the right time. I could talk the talk and make it out as some sort of experienced wildcat, but in all honesty I was a virgin and Daryl was my first real relationship.

The bathroom was well stocked with shampoos and soaps, and I collected as many as my hands would carry before submerging myself in the steaming water. I watched the brown water go down the drain, I hadn't realised I had been so dirty, I mean, I knew I was bad, but not that bad. It looked like mud, going down the drain. Most of it was from my hair, if I opened my mouth I could taste the dirt in the water. Gross. Just washing my hair used a whole bottle of shampoo. But what I was most excited about was the razors. Over the weeks I had been using an old, pretty worn out one, the new razor would glide over my skin leaving me feeling fresh and new.

Mindful of Jenner's warning to keep the hot water use to a minimum I got out and towel dried my hair. There was so much more of it than I remembered. It had grown down to the middle of my back and was super thick. I hated my thick hair, it got so hot during summer and hold moisture like a bitch. I left the steamy bathroom to find Daryl reclined on the couch and swigging from the bottle. Half of the whiskey was gone now and Daryl looked pretty out of it. He was the most relaxed I had seen him. Ever. Seeing me, Daryl tried to rise was the couch but appeared to experience some sort of vertigo and decided to remain sitting.

"Hey darlin', want some?" He held the whiskey up to me and I took it, it tasted like absolute crap. I coughed and handed him back the bottle. Daryl was smiling now, a legitimate, handsome smile that made my knees turn into jelly.

I grabbed Daryl's hand and helped him stand, nudging him in the direction of the bathroom. "You need a shower Daryl, as much as I love the wild look, it would be nice to see your skin." He grumbled something that I couldn't hear but stumbled into the bathroom anyway. Unlike me, Daryl stood in front of the open door and got undressed. He must be drunker than I thought, because normal Daryl would _never _do that.

Looking away I felt my way to the door and closed it for him. Sitting down on the couch I had a bit of a giggle over drunken Daryl. Sitting on the couch I took another swig from the Southern Comfort. It really was strong stuff. I could feel myself starting to relax already, the stress of the walkers leaving me and my happiness for being Daryl replacing it. He took some persuasion, but I got him. I could hear the others walking around outside my room, T-Dog was yelling something about dinner and Glenn was whooping in joy at the prospect of nourishment.

I was taking another swig of the alcohol when Daryl came back out from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. Dear God, give me strength. His chest was bare for me to see, all muscled and dripping with water. He didn't have a six-pack or anything, but you could tell he was strong. It was his arms, shoulders and back the sold the show, they were broad and defined and very, very sexy.

With wide eyes I brought the southern comfort to my lips and took a greedy gulp, enjoying the burn. It seemed that the shower had sobered him a little, he was looking at the ground, a little ruddy blush colouring his clean face. Grabbing some clothes from his bag he mumbled, "Forgot me clothes..." before turning his quickly walking back into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

When the door was closed I let out a sigh and fell back into the chair, fanning my face. This man was going to be the death of me.

~O~

Eventually Daryl and I made our way out to the rest of the group, following their voiced we found them sitting around a table with the smells of dinner wafting around. My stomach grumbled at the thought of a hot meal. Bottles of wine were placed in the middle of the table, with everyone except the kids drinking from a glass. Daryl kept to the bottle of southern comfort while I grabbed a glass of the sweet smelling beverage. Daryl had taken a seat over near the corner on a padded bench; it was tiny but had just enough space for me to squeeze in there. Daryl gave me a nervous smile as I walked over. He was so new to relationships, almost like a teenager on their first date. I tried to squeeze into the space beside him, But when it didn't work Daryl said, "Damn woman, jus' sit 'ere," before grabbing me and placing me on his lap. It was pretty comfy. I was sitting sideways to him with my feet in the small space beside him.

Daryl's face was red at this stage, but I could tell he was happy. One of his hands was holding the bottle of alcohol and the other arm was wrapped around my waist, his thumb rubbing at a bit of exposed skin. It was good to know that getting Daryl drunk was the easiest way to get him into PDA. Everyone was in high spirits during dinner, joking and laughing with each other. It was good to stop thinking about walkers and surviving for a bit. When the meal was finally ready, Daryl and I shared a well-stocked plate of pasta and talked quietly to each other.

"How long do you reckon we have here?" I asked him at some stage in the evening, the food had helped reduce the effects of the whiskey so that now he was only slightly drunk. Daryl considered my question for much longer than I deemed necessary, his fuzzy mind was making things difficult for him. All he was noticing was Steph and how close her boobs were to his face.

"I don't know, if Jenner lets us stay then we won't go." He said, in a slightly slurred voice. I decided to drop it, Daryl was not going to be very good at strategically planning in his current state. I had had far less than him and I was pretty drunk, then again, I'm also very small compared to Daryl. I rested my head on Daryl's shoulder, letting my drunken mind fizzle and pop with weird thoughts and ideas. The room suddenly got quiet and sombre as Shane asked the inevitable question.

"So, what happened here, doc?" he asked. Shane had been brooding in the dark for most of the meal, glaring at anyone who communicated with him. It was such a change from the nice and carefree Shane I had driven with earlier this day.

Dr. Jenner had started explaining and talking now, but I was too drunk to keep up with most of what was said. Occasionally I caught words like 'suicide' and 'families', whatever it was had Carol and Lori whimpering and Rick looking as hopeless as I had ever seen him. Daryl seemed to be upset as well, looking up at his face a saw that his jaw had hardened. Bringing my hand up, I ran a finger from his ear, down his jar line before tracing his lips. Daryl looked down at me then, the anger seemed to leave him, but it was replaced with a more... distraught look.

Soon after Jenner's depressing story everyone left the dining room for bed. Daryl and I stood, thanked T-Dog and the doctor for dinner and made our way back to our bedroom. Daryl walked behind me; both hands on my hips to guide me back to our room and keep me up-right. We made it back to our room in one piece, but I was kneeling falling over in exhaustion. I closed my eyes and leant against a wall, when I opened them, the couch had been folded out into a bed and Daryl was shaking my shoulder.

I fell onto the bed in an ungraceful heap, Daryl behind me. When he had lain down fully I rolled onto him, my leg over his waist and my arm across his chest. I had always been a cuddler, but in my drunken state, I had lost all inhibitions and was now pulling my own top off. Daryl just sort of looked at me with wide eyes, with only my bra on I stood up and removed my pants.

Daryl continued to look at me in shock, but I just laid back down, my head on his chest, leg on his waist and arms everywhere.

~O~

_Daryl_

I woke up before Steph with a dying urge to piss. My mouth felt like something furry had climbed in and died. My head was pounding and I could feel my stomach rolling and churning. It was one of the worst ways I had woken up since the apocalypse, until I noticed that Steph was practically lying on me and she was only in her underwear. Frantically I tried to recall the events of last night. Drinking, dinner, hopeless feeling when Jenner had told us why he was the only one left, coming back to our room, Steph was undressing. Daryl looked down at himself and saw he was still wearing clothes. Thank God. They hadn't had sex when they were drunk.

I looked at Steph sleeping; she was possibly the most beautiful creature he had seen. Ever. She said that she wanted to be with him. She alone had made his life ten times better. He wanted to sleep with her, God knows, he _really _wanted too. But neither of them was ready, it would have happened by now if they were. She was so young and most probably a virgin, the thought made him shiver and cringe at the same time. Daryl wasn't ready either, the only times he had had sex was drunk, and not with anyone who mattered. Steph matter, so much, and he would be damned if he treated her as badly as he treated her like he had with all the others girls.

He still needed to pee, but the likelihood of getting out from under Steph without her noticing was pretty small. A small clock on the wall said it was nearly seven in the morning, a glorious sleep in for someone who was used to waking up with the sun. As if sensing that he had woken, Steph began to stir on top of him, he hands began to feel around her, probably looking for a watch or knife or something. When she felt his warm skin she immediately opened her eyes. I had expected it to be awkward, but she just looked into my eyes for a second before rolling off of me with a meek, "Sorry."

As much as I needed to piss, I didn't want to leave her warm body, she was so cute when she woke up. I mentally pulled myself up with a slap. _Cute? Stop being such a pussy, get the fuck up and piss._

By the time I had come back into the room Steph was walking around with her clothes back on. Damn, it was nice to be able to look at her unashamedly.

Daryl could hear the rest of the group moving about now, among the morning noises where groans as people realised they were hung over.

"Urrg, drinking is bad," Steph said as she came in and hugged me. It was nice to be so normal with her, so close.

"Come on, let's get some food in ya," I said, taking her hand and leading her into the corridor. They walked hand in hand to the kitchen where T-Dog was preparing breakfast. Some eggs were already on the table and Daryl took one whiff before deciding he didn't want any. His stomach was rolling and heaving at the thought of food. Sitting down in their place from last night, Daryl enjoyed Steph on his lap, she was so small, she fit easily into his arms, and Daryl was surprisingly okay with being so... open in front of people.

When everyone was sitting down for breakfast, mostly with their heads bowed and a glass of water in front of them, Andrea began asking the hard questions. For fucks' sake, can a man not sit down for an easy meal without having someone ruin it? Nearly every meal he had shared with the group had been spent discussing the bad things in this new world, what they missed, what they wanted, who'd they'd lost. Move on people, if you just stopped whining about your old lives shit would get significantly easier to deal with.

Daryl followed with Steph as everyone stood and made their way to the computer room, Jenner told Vi, "Vi, show T19 on the big screen." In front of Jenner a massive screen lit up with what Daryl could only guess was a person's head. Their brain was a whole bunch of lights and stuff, it looked pretty cool. Jenner was explaining that those lights were brain synapses or some shit. In short, the lights were life.

"Scan to the first event," Jenner said and the lights began to go red and die. Daryl picked up pretty quick what was happening, the person was dying. Eventually their entire brain was dark.

"Scan to the second event: resurrection." Slowly the lights flickered back on, but they stayed red this time, and were only at the stem of the brain. The head began to thrash around until a bright light obscured the image, when Daryl could see the head again, all the lights were out and there was a line going through the brain. It did not take a genius to figure out what happened.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked from where she was holding Carl's shoulders, a worried expression on her face.

"Just the brain stem. The human part – the you part – that doesn't come back." Jenner said, Daryl felt Steph shiver at his words, before he knew it she was crying and grasping onto his t-shirt. Daryl wrapped his arms around her, sending a vile glare at Jenner for upsetting his girl.

In his attempt to calm Steph, Daryl stoped listening to the discussion between the group and Jenner. Daryl managed to calm Steph down enough so that she was able to hear what was being said.

"I've been in the dark for almost a month." Jenner says.

"There's nothing left anywhere. That's what you're really saying, aren't you?" Daryl can feel Steph tense up at Andreas words.

"Doctor, have you been communicating with other countries?" She asked, everyone in the group turned to look at her. Nearly everyone had forgotten by now that she was Australian, and still had no idea if her home was safe. Without waiting for his response she continues, "I- I'm Australian... is anyone alive there? Is the virus global?" She spoke in a frantic but even voice. This was important to her.

Jenner looks at her, and is about to say something, probably bad, but catches the look Daryl gives him and just shakes his head. Steph immediately goes limp in his arms; if Daryl hadn't been there she would have crashed to the ground and probably broken something. What scares Daryl the most about her is that she doesn't sob or cry, she doesn't even close her eyes. Steph just... shuts down. Her eyes are blank and she doesn't respond to anything.

Amy and Andrea rush over and try to help Daryl, who is at this stage shaking and freaking the fuck out. Around him everyone else has continued talking as if his girl hadn't just collapsed and is now pretending to be dead.

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel." Daryl hears Jenner say. The computer voice comes back and begins to explain. All Daryl catches is "Facility wide deconstruction" and "explosives". That's all Daryl needs to know. When that clock runs out, this place will blow up, killing everyone inside.

**A/N **Again, so sorry about the inaccuracies regarding the dialogue and the sequences of events, this is a bit of a weird chapter for me. Review and let me know how you feel.


End file.
